Indian Idol is an Indian Hindi-language singing reality show of Sony TV. It is an Indian version of the British show Pop Idol and is part of Indian Idol series. It has aired on Sony Entertainment Television since 2004.[1] Originally produced by Miditech Studios and its iconic producer-brothers, Niret Alva, Nikhil J Alva and Nivedith Alva, the series was an instant success when it launched. The brothers produced the first 5 seasons of the series and were instrumental in laying the foundation for its future success.[2]
Indian Idol's production and taping take place in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It broadcasts on Saturdays and Sundays and digitally airs on SonyLIV application.
The fourth season of Indian Idol was aired on Sony TV from 19 September 2008 to 1 March 2009. For the first time in Indian Idol history, there were two women among the top three finalists. Sourabhee Debbarma who hails from Agartala, Tripura won the competition and became the first female contestant to do so. By doing so, she also won a contract of Rs. 1 crore with Sony Entertainment Television and a TATA Winger. She released an album, Meherbaan, as per a contract with Sony. Kapil Thapa was runner-up while Torsha Sarkar finished third.
One of the contestants, Bhavya Pandit, received an offer to sing the song "Aaja Lehraate" for the film What's Your Raashee, alongside singer Gautam Mrinaal.[7]
The 11th season started to air on 12 October 2019 on Sony TV. It was being hosted by singer Aditya Narayan.[16]Neha Kakkar has returned as one of the judges on popular demand along with Vishal Dadlani and Anu Malik, who came back to the show as a judge after his suspension from the judging panel for Me Too allegations. He was then replaced by Himesh Reshammiya.[17][18]
The 12th season started on 28 November 2020 on Sony TV. The grand finale aired from 12 noon to 12 midnight on 15 August 2021.[19] Pawandeep Rajan was declared the winner of the season and Arunita Kanjilal became the 1st Runner-up.[20] This was the longest running season of Indian Idol.
Although Vishal Dadlani, Neha Kakkar and Himesh Reshammiya were the original judges, when the shoot shifted out of Mumbai, then Vishal Dadlani, and Neha Kakkar couldn't join and makers replaced them by Anu Malik and Sonu Kakkar.
Aditya Narayan was the original host but Bharti & Harsh, Rithvik and Jay replaced him when he came out to be COVID +ve. Bharti and Harsh replaced him on February 28.
The judges have decided to do a power play for 9 weeks and let the audience decide who they want to see in the Top 8. Elimination will happen after the 9 weeks of power play. This season was extended because the contestants have given so much love and entertainment to the audience in the COVID pandemic. The 9 weeks of power play were completed and Anjali Gaikwad got eliminated.
The Ground Auditions started in July 2022. The show started on 10 September 2022.[23] The finale was held on April 2, 2023, with Rishi Singh being declared as the winner of the season along with Deboshmita Roy as the 1st runner up.[24]
The judges have decided to do a power play for 4 weeks and let the audience decide who they want to see in the Top 7. Elimination will happen after the 4 weeks of power play. The 4 weeks of power play were completed and Navdeep Wadali got eliminated on February 26, 2023. The last contestant who got eliminated from the show was Senjuti Das on March 25, 2023, leaving the top 6 finalists[25] to compete for the Indian Idol trophy.
Sunidhi Chauhan who judged this show's seasons 5 and 6, in her interview with Vicky Lalwani of The Economic Times YouTube channel revealed that this show's makers asked her and other judges to praise every contestant. According to Lalwani since 2022, judges of Indian Idol do not give critical comments or point out flaws in singing after a contestant performed, and they praise everyone, and the audience also gets confused. In 2021, Amit Kumar also expressed the same thing after he appeared as a guest judge, he said that the makers of Indian Idol specifically told him while filming that you have to praise every contestant and not criticize.[27][28]
In 2018, a participant Nishant Kaushik revealed on Twitter the suffering and ill-treatment of the people who come for the auditions of this show. He expressed his experience with his Indian Idol audition. He elaborated that, he participated in the 2012 Indian Idol audition, people of this show do not give any service to the participants, and contestants kept standing with no access to food, drinking water, or toilet. Former host of Indian idol Mini Mathur in response to this tweet thread wrote these kinds of things happened in Indian reality shows, that is why she quit doing work in them.[29]
In 2021 many fans alleged the show for showing scripted stories to gain TRP. In the season fans expressed on social media that the love angle of Pawandeep Rajan and Arunita Kanjilal was fake, and makers are deliberately trying to show the love angle.[30] The show frequently alleged of showing fake emotional, drama and sob stories of the contestants. Amid the 12th season viewers slammed makers for altering the performance of Pawandeep Rajan.[31]
