Saleel Kulkarni sang the Marathi Prose 'Jayostute ' on All India Radio, Pune station at the age of three[citation needed].

Thereafter, he undertook key lessons in singing and music from eminent personalities like Gangadharbuva Pimpalkhare, Jaymalabai Shiledar and Pramod Marathe.

While working as a music director for the last ten years, he has composed songs for Hindi and Marathi albums, serials and films.

Saleel played Judge for competitive singing reality show "Sa Re Ga Ma Pa" on Zee Marathi where along with assessing the performances of participants, he mentored and nurtured many upcoming talented individuals.

After a long break of almost 12 years Lata Mangeshkar sang Marathi bhavgeeta when she recorded songs with him as a music director for the album "Kshan Amrutache".