Indian Idol (Hindi TV series)


Indian Idol is an Indian Hindi-language singing reality competition on Sony TV. It is an Indian version of the British show Pop Idol and is part of the Indian Idol series. It has aired on Sony Entertainment Television since 2004. Originally produced by Miditech Studios and its iconic producer-brothers, Niret Alva, Nikhil J Alva and Nivedith Alva, the series was an instant success. The brothers produced the first 5 seasons of the series and were instrumental in laying the foundation for its future success.
Indian Idol's production and taping take place in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It broadcasts on Saturdays and Sundays and digitally airs on SonyLIV application.

Series overview



Season synopses

Season 1

Judges
Anu Malik
Farah Khan
Sonu NigamHost
Aman Verma
Mini Mathur
Top 12 Contestants
NameAgeHometownResultPlace
Abhijeet Sawant23Mumbai1st
Amit Sana21Bhilai2nd
Rahul Vaidya17Nagpur2nd Runner-up3rd
Prajakta Shukre16Jabalpur3rd Runner-up4th
Ravinder Ravi29Ludhiana5th
Aditi Paul25Chennai6th
Mukesh Pancholi26Faridabad7th
Harish Moyal26Itanagar8th
Rahul Saxena22Ghaziabad9th
Amit Tandon25Kolkata10th
Vishal Kothari21Mumbai11th
Priyanka Venkateswar17Mumbai12th

Season 2

Judges
Anu Malik
Farah Khan
Sonu NigamHost
Mini Mathur
Aman Verma
Top 12 Contestants
NameAgeHometownResultPlace
Sandeep Acharya21Bikaner1st
N. C. Karunya19Hyderabad2nd
Anuj Sharma29Himachal Pradesh3rd
Ameya Date26Mumbai4th
Antara Mitra18West Bengal5th
Meenal Jain20Indore6th
Ravi K. Tripathi29Uttar Pradesh7th
Panna Gill24Punjab8th
Monali Thakur20Kolkata9th
Neha Kakkar17Rishikesh10th
Yashashree Bhave24Satara11th
Sagar Sawarkar20Mumbai12th

Season 3

Judges
Javed Akhtar
Anu Malik
Alisha Chinai
Udit NarayanHost
Hussain Kuwajerwala
Mini Mathur
Top 13 Contestants
NameAgeHometownResultPlace
Prashant Tamang24Darjeeling1st
Amit Paul24Shillong2nd
Emon Chatterjee17Kolkata3rd
Ankita Mishra17Kanpur4th
Meiyang Chang24Dhanbad5th
Pooja Chatterjee18Dhanbad6th
Deepali Kishore18Patna7th
Abhishek Kumar20Mumbai8th
Parleen Singh Gill19Ambala9th
Charu Semwal19Dehradun10th
Smita Adhikari24Kolkata11th
Jolly Das25Kolkata12th
Richa Aneja17Punjab13th

Season 4

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.Judges
Javed Akhtar
Anu Malik
Sonali Bendre
Kailash KherHost
Hussain Kuwajerwala
Meiyang Chang
Top 14 Contestants
NameHometownResultPlace
Sourabhee DebbarmaAgartala1st
Kapil ThapaDehradun2nd
Torsha SarkarBhagalpur2nd Runner-up3rd
Rajdeep ChatterjeeJamshedpur4th
Remo GhoshDimapur5th
Bhavya PanditPune6th
Prasenjit KosambiKolhapur7th
Bhanu Pratap SinghJaipur8th
Mohit LawaniDelhi9th
Kuldeep Singh ChauhanBanda10th
Priyanka NegiDehradun11th
Gautam MrinalJamui12th
Tulika GangulyFaridabad13th
Ananya MishraLucknow14th

Season 5

Judges
Anu Malik
Sunidhi Chauhan
Salim MerchantHost
Hussain Kuwajerwala
Abhijeet Sawant
Top 13 Contestants
NameHometownResultPlace
Sreerama ChandraHyderabad1st
Bhoomi TrivediGujarat2nd
Rakesh MainiMumbai2nd
Swaroop KhanRajasthan4th
Shivam PathakGujarat5th
Tia KarMumbai6th
Naushad AliRajasthan7th
Shashi SumanPatna8th
Arpita KhanWest Bengal9th
Yashraj KapilFaridabad10th
Manisha KarmakarKolkata11th
Meghna KumarJhansi12th
Vishwas RaiAllahabad13th

Note: Sreerama, Rakesh, and Bhoomi were the top 3. Sreeram was crowned the winner without announcing the 1st and 2nd runner-ups.

Season 6

The sixth season aired on Sony TV from 1 June 2012 to 1 September 2012. The winner of the sixth season was Vipul Mehta.Judges
Anu Malik
Sunidhi Chauhan
Salim Merchant
Asha BhosleHost
Hussain Kuwajerwala
Mini Mathur
On 23 June 2012, the judges selected the top 16 contestants to perform in the Gala Rounds.
Contestants
NameHometownResultPlace
Vipul MehtaAmritsar1st
Amit KumarAmritsar2nd
Devender Pal SinghLudhiana2nd
Poorvi KautishChandigarh4th
Sohini MishraCuttack5th
Amitabh Narayan6th
Deeksha ToorDelhi7th
Deepak Maher8th
Kaushik DeshpandeMumbai9th
Kritika Tanwar10th
Charith DixitChandigarh11th
Ravi Kumar Mishra12th
Ritika RajPatna13th
Saumya Mishra14th
Simran KaurPunjab15th
Amrita BharatiBhubaneswar16th

Indian Idol Junior Season 1

Judges
Vishal Dadlani
Shreya Ghoshal
Shekhar RavjianiHost
Karan Wahi
Mandira Bedi
Top 11 Contestants
NameHometownResultPlace
Anjana PadmanabhanBengaluru1st
Debanjana KarmakarKolkata2nd
Anmol JaswalJammu and Kashmir2nd Runner-up3rd
Nirvesh DaveAhmedabad3rd Runner-up4th
Sugandha DateNagpur5th
Sonakshi KarKolkata6th
Priyam BorpatragohainAssam7th
Akash SharmaHaryana8th
Sankalp YaduwanshiMoradabad9th
Eman ChaudharyAssam10th
Aryan DasCuttack11th

Indian Idol Junior Season 2

Indian Idol Junior Season 2 started on 30 May 2015 and finished on 6 September 2015.Judges
Salim Merchant
Sonakshi Sinha replaced Shalmali Kholgade
Vishal DadlaniHost
Hussain Kuwajerwala
Asha Negi
Top 13 Contestants
NameHometownResultPlace
Ananya NandaBhubaneswar1st
Nahid AfrinAssam2nd
Nithyashree VenkataramananChennai2nd Runner-up3rd
Vaishnav GirishThrissur4th
Moti KhanRajasthan5th
Niharika NathAgartala6th
Ranita BanerjeeKolkata7th
Sreelakshmi BelmannuBangalore8th
Ajay BrijwasiMathura9th
Yumna AjinVengara10th
Surendra Singh PanwarRajasthan11th
Vidhi JaswalJammu and Kashmir12th
ShubhankarKolkata13th

Season 9

Judges
Anu Malik
Farah Khan
Sonu NigamHost
Karan Wahi
Paritosh Tripathi
Top 14 Contestants
NameHometownResultPlace
L. V. RevanthVisakhapatnam1st
Khuda BakshPunjab2nd
P V N S RohitHyderabad2nd Runner-up3rd
Maalavika SunderChennai4th
Mohit ChopraNew Delhi5th
Tajinder SinghFaridabad6th
R P ShravanChennai7th
Manya NarangNew Delhi8th
Hardeep SinghLudhiana9th
Jeli KayiItanagar10th
Bharti GuptaGhaziabad11th
Mansi BhardwajDelhi12th
Stuti TiwariDelhi13th
Saumya MishraRenukut14th

Season 10

Judges
Javed Ali
Neha Kakkar
Vishal DadlaniFormer Judge
Anu MalikHost
Manish Paul
Top 14 Contestants
NameHometownResultPlace
Salman AliMewat1st
Ankush BhardwajKotgarh2nd
Neelanjana RayAlipurduar2nd Runner-up3rd
Nitin KumarUna3rd Runner-up4th
Vibhor ParasharNew Delhi4th Runner-up5th
Kunal PanditMumbai6th
Renu NagarAlwar7th
Soumya ChakrabortyKolkata8th
Avanti PatelMumbai9th
Saurabh ValmikiLakhimpur Kheri10th
Biswajit MohapatraBhawanipatna11th
Krishnakali SahaTripura12th
Indira DasKolkata13th
Sonia GazmerKolkata14th

Season 11

The 11th season started to air on 12 October 2019 on Sony TV. It was being hosted by singer Aditya Narayan. 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.Judges
Himesh Reshammiya replaced Anu Malik
Neha Kakkar
Vishal DadlaniHost
Aditya Narayan
Top 16 contestants
NameHometownEliminationPlace
Sunny HindustaniBathinda1st
Rohit Shyam RautLatur2nd
Ankona MukherjeeBankura2nd Runner-up3rd
Ridham KalyanAmritsar3rd Runner-up4th
Adriz GhoshMurshidabad4th Runner-up5th
Shahzaan MujeebAligarh6th
Rishabh ChaturvediAmritsar7th
Stuti TiwariNew Delhi8th
Jannabi DasNew Delhi9th
Azmat HussainJaipur10th
Chetna BharadwajGhaziabad11th
Kaivalya KejkarNagpur12th
Subhadeep Das ChowdhuryKolkata13th
Pallav SinghBallia14th
Nidhi KumariJamshedpur15th
Chelsi BehuraCuttack16th

Season 12

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. Pawandeep Rajan was declared the winner of the season and Arunita Kanjilal became the 1st Runner-up. This was the longest running season of Indian Idol.Judges
Vishal Dadlani
Neha Kakkar
Himesh ReshammiyaGuest judges
Anu Malik
Sonu Kakkar
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.Host
Aditya NarayanGuest Hosts
Bharti Singh
Haarsh Limbachiyaa
Rithvik Dhanjani
Jay Bhanushali
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.
Top 15 contestants
NameHometownResultStanding
Pawandeep RajanUttarkhand1st
Arunita KanjilalKolkata2nd
Sayli Kamble PatilMumbai2nd Runner-up3rd
Mohd DanishMuzaffarnagar3rd Runner-up4th
Nihal TauroMangalore4th Runner-up5th
Shanmukha PriyaVisakhapatnam5th Runner-up6th
Ashish KulkarniPune7th
Sawai BhattNagaur8th
Anjali GaikwadAhmednagar9th
Nachiket LeleKalyan10th
Sireesha BhagavatulaVisakhapatnam11th
Anushka BanerjeeChandigarh12th
Vaishnav GirishThrissur13th
Samyak PrasanaDelhi14th
Sahil SolankiHisar15th

Season 13

The Ground Auditions started in July 2022. The show started on 10 September 2022. 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.Judges
Himesh Reshammiya
Vishal DadlaniHost
Aditya NarayanFormer Judge
Neha KakkarGuest Hosts
Haarsh Limbachiyaa
Bharti Singh
Top 15 Contestants
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 to compete for the Indian Idol trophy.
NameHometownResultPlace
Rishi SinghAyodhya1st
Deboshmita RoyKolkata2nd
Chirag KotwalBhaderwah2nd Runner-up3rd
Bidipta ChakrabortyKolkata3rd Runner-up4th
Shivam SinghVadodara4th Runner-up5th
Sonakshi KarKolkata5th Runner-up6th
Senjuti DasKolkata7th
Navdeep WadaliAmritsar8th
Kavya LimayeVadodara9th
Vineet SinghLucknow10th
Anushka PatraKolkata11th
Rupam BharnarhiaAmritsar12th
Sanchari SenguptaKolkata13th
Pritam RoyKolkata14th
Shagun PathakJharkhand15th

Season 14

The fourteenth season premiered on 7 October 2023, with the theme Ek Awaz Lakhon Ehsaas. On 3 March 2024, the season concluded, with Vaibhav Gupta crowned as the winner, with Subhadeep Das Choudhary finishing as the runner-up.Judges
Kumar Sanu
Shreya Ghoshal
Vishal Dadlani Host
Hussain KuwajerwalaGuest Hosts
Aditya Narayan
Top 15 Contestants
NameHometownResultPlace
Vaibhav GuptaKanpur, Uttar Pradesh1st
Subhadeep Das ChowdhuryKolkata, West Bengal2nd
Piyush PanwarRajasthan2nd Runner-up3rd
Ananya PalKolkata, West Bengal3rd Runner-up4th
Anjana PadmanabhanMumbai, Maharashtra4th Runner-up5th
Adya MishraFaridabad, Haryana5th Runner-up6th
Obom TanguArunachal Pradesh7th
Dipan MitraKolkata, West Bengal8th
Utkarsh WankhedeNagpur, Maharashtra9th
Menuka PoudelNepal10th
Muskan SrivastavaGhaziabad, Uttar Pradesh11th
Mahima BhattacharjeeKolkata, West Bengal12th
Surender KumarRajasthan13th
Maithili ShomeMumbai, Maharashtra14th
Gayathry RajivKochi, Kerala15th

Season 15

The fifteenth season premiered in October 2024, with the theme Jo Gayega, Wo Nazar Aayega. On 6 April 2025, the season concluded, with Manasi Ghosh crowned as the winner, with Subhajit Chakraborty finishing as the runner-up.Judges
Badshah
Shreya Ghoshal
Vishal Dadlani Host
Aditya Narayan
Top 16 Contestants
NameResultPlace
Manasi Ghosh1st
Subhajit Chakraborty2nd
Sneha Shankar2nd Runner-up3rd
Chaitanya Devadhe 3rd Runner-up4th
Priyangshu Dutta4th Runner-up5th
Anirudh Suswaram5th Runner-up6th
Myscmme Bosu7th
Ragini Shinde8th
Biswarup Banerjee9th
Ritika Raj10th
Mayuri Saha11th
Ranjini Sen Gupta12th
Srijan Porail13th
Jyotiprakash Ojha14th
Vastav Kumar15th
Ipsit Pati16th

Season 16

The sixteenth season premiered on 18 October 2025, with the theme Yaadon Ki Playlist. Judges
Badshah
Shreya Ghoshal
Vishal Dadlani Host
Aditya Narayan
NameResultPlace
1st
2nd
2nd Runner-up3rd
3rd Runner-up4th
4th Runner-up5th
5th Runner-up6th
7th
8th
9th
10th
11th
12th
Abhijeet Sharma13th
Banashree Biswas14th
Manav15th
Arfin Rana16th