Indian Idol is a very popular singing reality show, adapted from the British television music show, Pop Idol and the Indian version of the American singing competition, American Idol. The show was created by Simon Fuller and was aired on Sony Entertainment Television channel and produced by Ashok (from 2008 to 2009) and
Namit Sharma (2010 up to the present).
The show is a combination of both reality and drama which consists of music, emotions and glamour. Contestants should be 15 to 30 years old and entitled to work in India. They are not allowed to join if they already participated in the previous seasons and became part of the top 24, if they are under any recording contracts or if they are not a citizen of India or landed immigrants such as owning a temporary residency.
Indian Idol has completed a total of six seasons and became very successful. Season 1 was premiered on October 2004 and ends on March 2005. The winner for this season was
Abhijeet Sawant who already releases his very first and second albuma entitled, Aap Ka Abhijeet and Hunoon respectively. He also represent India and was placed third in the reality singing competition, Asian Idol, which was joined by the previous winners of Idol competitions around Southeast and South Asian countries.
Amit Sana won the first place while
Rahul Vaidya took the second runner-up place and became an anchor in shows like Aaja Mahi Ve and Jhoom India. He also won the singing competition show, Jo Jeeta Wohi Superstar, while Sawant placed first.
Prajakta Shukre won the fourth runner-up place. Vaidya, Sana and Shukre already release their own solo albums. The juries for Season 1 are
Anu Malik,
Farah Khan and '
Sonu Nigam'.
The season 2 started on November 21, 2005 and lasted until April 22, 2006.
Sandeep Acharya won this season while N. C. Karunya got the first runner-up place;
Anuj Sharma took the third runner-up place,
Amey Date was on the fourth and
Antara Mitra got the fifth place. Karunya became the favorite and was later announced as the unofficial winner of Season 2. Sandep Acharya died on December 15, 2013 due to Jaundice. The third season of the Indian Idol was premiered on May 4, 2007 and ends on September 23, 2007.
Prashant Tamang won on this season while
Amit Paul took the runner-up place. Tamang releases his solo album entitled, Dhanyabad and made a world tour. Amit sang the OST for the film,
Luck By Chance entitled, Pyaar Ki Dastaan. He also represents India in Kuwait’s Indian Carnival in year 2007 together with Ankita Mishra, who took the third runner-up place.
Season 3 judges are Anu Malik,
Udit Narayan,
Alisha Chinai and
Javed Akhtar. The fourth season started on September 19, 2008 and ends on March 1, 2009.
Sourabhee Debbarma was the first female winner in the history of Indian Idol. She won a total of Rs. 1 Crore and a contract with TATA Winger and Sony Entertainment Television channel. Her first album was entitled as Meherbaan.
Kapil Thapa took the runner-up place and
Torsha Sarkar was placed on third. Anu Malik,
Kailash Kher,
Sonali Bendre and Javed Akhtar were the judges for this season. The fifth season was premiered on May 13, 2010 and lasted until august 15, 2010. The winner for this season is Sreeramchandra Mynampati. The judges for this season are Anu Malik,
Sunidhi Chauhan and
Salim Merchant. The sixth season started on June 1, 2012 until September 1, 2012.
Vipul Mehta was the winner for this season, receiving the highest number of votes. The hosts on Season 5 are the returning host for this season including
Asha Bhosle.
Hussain Kuwajerwala and
Mini Mathur hosted this season.
