"I love the weather, food, Birla mandir, Telugu movies, songs and everything about Hyderabad," says Karunya, who was in his third year at the B Tech Engineering college in Hyderabad when he was selected for Indian Idol 2, the hugely popular reality show.
'Things can go against Karunya'
The aspiring singer claims that he never side-tracked education in favour of his passion for singing. "I have always balanced my singing and studies," he says. "It's always been work and practicing for music."
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'Karunya's been a find, like Abhijeet'
Though the finals are only a couple days away, the young singer claims he doesn't feel nervous. "There is no time to even breathe! We start our day rehearsing, and end it rehearsing. We practice the whole day. Before, it was only about five hours of practice before the show. Now, we sing the whole day. But the best part of this is we love what we do, and we're getting famous while we're at it! I think I will feel the tension only on the final day. I might even get giddy with all the excitement and nervousness then, but I'm pretty cool now. I'm just thinking about the performance."
On Saturday, Karunya will compete with Sandeep for the coveted title. What songs does he hope will do the trick? "I will sing Whimposh mal from Mission Kashmir, Sayonee from the album Junoon, Badan pe sitare from Prince, Ek mein aur ek tu hai from Bluffmaster and One love from Rakht," Karunya says.
He adds, "One love and Sayonee are my favourites. I wanted to sing Sayonee during earlier episodes, but didn't get a chance to. I hope it brings me good fortune!"
Who will be the next Indian Idol?
But though Karunya is the nation's favourite to win the title, luck isn't favouring him at the moment. He is presently suffering from a throat infection and cannot stop coughing. "I had the infection during the shooting of the last episode as well. I managed to sing with that. My lymph nodes are swollen. I hope it gets better for D-day."
Karunya believes he is the luckiest contestant amongst all who have ever featured on Indian Idol. "The comments and applause I got from the judges and audience; the favoritism from the judges has never been seen before. It's phenomenal! I will never forget these moments ever. My favourite co-contestant was Minal Jain. We would get up at 2 am and heat pizzas in the oven. Due to hectic schedules, we had irregular eating habits. I can't forget those days..."
He plans to do a lot of stage shows and playback singing after Indian Idol is over. "If I can, I would also like to complete my studies," he adds. And when asked who will win the title on Saturday, he replies, "Me, of course!"