Indian Idol is a famous singing competition show that is broadcasted on TV in India. It’s a Hindi version of the Idol franchise, which started with the UK show called Pop Idol. The Hindi version of Indian Idol has been on since 2004 and has become an important way for people who want to sing to show their talent and become famous in the Indian music industry.
The way Indian Idol works is that people who want to participate sing in front of a group of judges. The judges then choose the best performers to move on to the next round of the competition. The contestants who make it to the final round perform live in front of a studio audience and people watching at home. The viewers then vote for their favorite singer. The person with the most votes wins and gets a recording contract and some money as a prize.
Indian Idol is very popular in India and has helped many singers become successful, like Abhijeet Sawant, Neha Kakkar, and Vishal Dadlani. Many famous Indian singers and musicians like Anu Malik, Sonu Nigam, and Neha Kakkar have also been judges on the show.
List of Indian Idol Winners Till Date
Winner of Indian Idol Season 1:
The first season of the famous TV show was aired from October, 2004-March, 2005 on Sony TV. The judges for the first season were Anu Malik, Sonu Nigam and Farah Khan and it was hosted by Aman Verma and Mini Mathur.
Winner of the Show: Abhijeet Sawant. He released his first album ‘Aap Ka Abhijeet’ and he also represented in ‘Asian Idol’ and came third. His second album ‘Junoon’ was a successful one and he also made a debut in the movie ‘Lottery’. However, the movie was not a big hit in box office.
1st runner-up: Amit Sana. He went on to release his solo album
2nd runner-up: Rahul Vaidhya. He became a host in Star plus channel and hosted ‘Aaja Mahi ve’ and he has also hosted dance reality show ‘Jhoom India’ He has also contributed to the sound track of the film ‘Shaadi No: 1’. He later won the singing reality show ‘Jo Jeeta Wohi Superstar’, in which Abhijeet Sawant came as first runner-up.
3rd runner-up: Prajakta Shukre.
Winner of Indian Idol Season 2:
The second season was aired from November, 2005 to April, 2006. The judges spot were retained for Anu Malik, Sonu Nigam and Farah Khan.
Winner of the Show: Sandeep Acharya. After winning the competition he signed a contract with Soy BIG worth Rs.10 million. However, the talented singer lost hos life to Jaundice on December, 2013 in his hometown, Bikaner.
1st runner-up: N.C.Karunya. She was the favourite among the judges and was declared unofficial winner of the show.
2nd runner-up: Anuj Sharma
3rd runner-up: Amey Date. He was a contestant in the musical game show ‘Music ka Maha Muqqabla’ and also participated singing reality show ‘Jo Jeeta Wohi Sperstar’
Winner of Indian Idol Season 3:
Third season was aired from May, 2007 to September, 2007. The judges were Anu Malik, Javed Akhtar, Alisha Chinai and Udit Narayan. The third season was hosted by Hussain Kuwajerwala and Mini Mathur.
Winner of the Show: Prashant Tamang. He created a solo album as per his contract with Sony and he also conducted world tour of shows.
1st runner-up: Amit Paul. He sang the song ‘Pyaar ki Dastaan’ in the movie Luck by chance.
2nd runner-up: Emon Chatterjee. He along with Deepali Kishore release I Love you, composed by Anu Malik , for the film Don Muthu Swami.
3rd runner-up: Ankita Mishra. Ankita along with Amit Paul, represented India in the Indian Carnival in Kuwait, 2007.
Winner of Indian Idol Season 4:
The fourth season was aired from September, 2008 to March, 2009. In this season, there were 2 women, among the top 3 finalist. The judges were Anu Malik, Javed Akhtar, Kailash Kher and Sonali Bendre and the show was hosted by Hussain Kuwajerwala and Meiyang Chang, who was placed fifth in the Indian Idol season 3.
Winner of the Show: Sourabhee Debbarma. She also signed a contract with Sony Entertainment Television and TATA Winger worth INR 1 crore. She released an album, Meherbaan as per her contract with SONY.
1st runner-up: Kapil Thapa. He was part of the Indian Army. He has won many awards for singing in his Army band.
2nd runner-up: Remo Ghosh
3rd runner-up: Torsha Sarkar. She sang the song ‘Salam Karne Ki Aarzoo Hai’ from the blockbuster movie ‘Umrao Jaan’.
Winner of Indian Idol Season 5:
The fifth season was aired in Sony TV on 2010 and it went on till August, 2010. The judges were Anu Malik, Salim Merchant and Sunidhi Chauhan. Meiyang Chang hosted the show.
Winner of the show: Sreeramchandra Mynampati. He is the first one from South India to win the show. He has already made a debut in a Telugu movie
1st runner-up: Bhoomi Trivedi. She became host for many singing competition.
2nd runner-up: Rakesh Maini
3rd runner-up: Swaroop Khan
Winner of Indian Idol Season 6:
The sixth season was aired in Sony TV from June, 2012 to September, 2012. The judges of the season were Anu Malik, Sunidhi Chauhan, Salim Merchant and Asha Bhosle. The show was hosted by Mini Mathur and Hussain Kuwajerwala.
Winner of the Show: Vipul Mehta. He was known for his albums ‘Rowaan mein’ and ‘Hello Namaste Sat Sri Akal’. He bagged a cash prize of 50 lacs, a Nissan micra car, Suzuki Hayate Bike and a contract with Sony for his album.
1st runner-up: Devendra Pal Singh
2nd runner-up: Amit Kumar. He lent his voice for the album ‘Indian Idol- Fabulous Four’. He is known for his strong and bold voice.
Winner of Indian Idol Season 7 (2017)
LV Revanth became the winner of Indian Idol Season 7 (2017)
first runners-up was Khuda Baksh, the second runners-up was PVNS Rohit.
The seventh season of the show is back after 4 years and has lot of expectations from the audience. Since the last six seasons were a huge success and singers were able to mesmerise the judges and audience with their melodious voice. Since there are many talents that are yet to be discovered in India, we hope this season will be a gateway to those talents.
Judges:
- The first judge finalized was Anu Malik, he has been in the judge panel for the last six seasons. He has also represented India in the Asian Idol, where he was one of the judges.
- The second judge is Sonu Nigam, who is a famous Bollywood singer. He has been in the judge panel for the first two seasons.
- The third judge is Farah Khan. She is back in Indian Idol after 10 years.
Host:
Karan Wahi, is the Host for Indian Idol season 7 or Indian Idol 9. Karan is the former cricketer, actor, model and host.
Top 14 Finalists:
- Tajinder Singh: He is a well known singer and has lot of followers online.
- Manya narang: She has been singing from the age of 8 and she has also participated in various reality shows before Indian Idol.
- L V Revanth: He is playback singer in Tollywood. He sang ‘Manohari’ from the famous blockbuster movie ‘Baahubali’.
- Mohit Chopra: He is a real find for Indian Idol 9; he sang ‘Tera Ishq Sufiyana’ and impressed all the 3 judges instantly.
- Maalavika Sundar: She is a professional playback singer, who has sung in several tollywood movies.
- R P Shravan: She is also considered one of the strongest contestants of the season.
- Hardeep Singh: He has practice in singing for over 7 years.
- Jeli Kayi: He is a famous stage singer and has lot of popularity on Social Media.
- Bharti Gupta: She is also an experienced singer, who sang in many reality competitions.
- Mansi Bhardwaj: She has been performing in stages before she found the Indian Idol Stage to showcase her talent.
- Rohit PVNS: He is from Telanagana and huge followers in YouTube and Social Media.
- Stuti Tiwari: She has also appeared in another singing reality show SAREGAMAPA Little Champ 2011.
- Khuda Baksh: He is a very promising singer from a humble background, whose dream is to become a professional singer.
- Saumya Mishra: She has already auditioned in Indian Idol 6, unfortunately couldn’t make it to the top 12.
Since the ‘Top 14’ contestants, have a great experience in singing and have performed so well in all the episodes, it will be a hard time for both the judges and as well as public, to select a particular person for the top 14. Let’s hope the singer who deserves the title, wins it.
After season 7 they had Indian Idol Junior season 1 and 2.
Winner of Indian Idol Season 10 (2018)
This 10th season was aired in the year 2018. The judges in the season were Javed Ali who replaced Anu Malik, Vishal Dadlani and Neha Kakkar. Manish Paul hosted season 10.
Winner of the show: Salman Ali, who has a very genuine and distinctive sound, won Season 10 of Indian Idol. He won a Datsun Go and 25 lakh in prize money. Because of this program, he became famous in India’s music scene. And in 2011, he finished second in Lil Champions Sa Re Ga Ma Pa
Indian Idol 10’s victor made his vocal debut with the track “Sab Badhiya Hai,” from one of the top Bollywood films ,Sui Dhaga The popular historical TV series “Chandragupta Maurya” features his voice in the show’s theme tune. We’ve recently seen him in his role as a guru for Superstar Singer.
1st runner up- Ankush Bharadwaj was the first runner up.
2nd runner up- Neelanjana Roy was the second runner up.
3rd runner up- Nitin Kumar
Winner of Indian Idol Season 11 (2019)
From 2019 to 2020, the Indian Idol season 11 streamed. The judges in this season were Anu Malik, Vishal Dadlani and Neha Kakkar. Aditya Narayan hosted this season.
Winner of the show: Sunny Hindustani is indeed the newest addition to the list of 2019–20 Indian Idol champions, having risen from singing on the Bathinda train stations to the national stage. There were a lot of votes for him since people liked his new perspective. In celebration of his victory, he signed a songwriting contract with Shankar Ehsaan Loy, one third of the musical trio.
Before trying out for Indian Idol, Sunny was a shoe polisher at the Bhatinda Railway Station and had to borrow funds to do so. The eleventh season of Indian Idol proved that talent can’t be hidden from view for too long.
Sunny bagged Rs 25, 00,000 and Tata Altroz Car as his winning amount and prize.
1st runner up- Rohit Shyam Raut
2nd runner up- Ankona Mukherjee
3rd runner up- Ridham Kalyan
Winner of Indian Idol Season 12
Winner of Indian Idol season 12 (2020-2021)
Himesh Reshammiya, Neha Kakkar, Anu Malik, and Vishal Dadlani were the judges of this season. This show was also hosted by Aditya Narayan.
Indian Idol Season 12 debuted in November of 2020, and had a total of 15 singers competing for the title.
Winner of the show: Pawandeep Rajan, a 26-year-old from Uttarakhand, eventually emerged victorious.
The young musician Pawandeep Rajan’s family was a major influence in his decision to pursue music. Suresh Rajan Senior, the man’s dad, is also a musician who performs at parties and other events all throughout Uttrakhand.
He bagged 25, 00,000 winning amount and Maruti Suzuki swift.
1st runner up- Arunita Kanjilal
2nd runner up- Sayli Kamble
3rd runner up- Mohd Danish
Winner of Indian Idol season 13
In July 2022, the Ground Auditions commenced for the Indian Idol season 13. The show officially kicked off on September 10, 2022, and after several months of intense competition, the grand finale was held on April 2, 2023. Rishi Singh emerged as the winner of the season, with Deboshmita Roy earning the title of first runner-up.
