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.
Judges and hosts
Cast memberSeason1 20042 2005320074 20085 20106 20127 20138 20159 201610 201811 201912 202013 202214 202315 2024162025Anu Malik●●●Sonu Nigam●●●Farah Khan●●Alisha Chinai●Udit Narayan●●Javed Akhtar●Sonali Bendre●Kailash Kher●Sunidhi Chauhan●Salim Merchant●Asha Bhosle●Vishal Dadlani●●Shekhar Ravjiani●Shreya Ghoshal●●Javed Ali●Neha Kakkar●●Himesh Reshammiya●●Sonu Kakkar●Kumar Sanu●Kavita Krishnamurti●Badshah●Neeti Mohan●Aman Verma●Mini Mathur●●Hussain Kuwajerwala●●●Meiyang Chang●●Abhijeet Sawant●●Karan Wahi●●Mandira Bedi●Asha Negi●Paritosh Tripathi●Manish Paul●Aditya Narayan●●●Bharti Singh●Haarsh Limbachiyaa●●Jay Bhanushali●Rithvik Dhanjani●Pawandeep Rajan●●Mohd. Danish●●
Series overview +SeasonEpisodesOriginally airedJudgesNo of contestantsPrize MoneyWinnerRunner-upFirst airedLast aired12730 October 20045 March 2005Anu MalikFarah KhanSonu Nigam12₹50,00,000Abhijeet SawantAmit Sana22821 November 200522 April 200612₹1,00,00,000Sandeep AcharyaN. C. Karunya34 May 200723 September 2007Javed AkhtarAlisha ChinaiUdit Narayan13Prashant TamangAmit Paul419 September 20081 March 2009Sonali BendreKailash Kher14Sourabhee DebbarmaKapil Thapa54226 April 201015 August 2010Sunidhi ChauhanSalim Merchant13₹50,00,000Sreerama Chandra MynampatiBhoomi Trivedi / Rakesh Maini6301 June 20121 September 2012Salim MerchantAsha Bhosle16Vipul MehtaAmit Kumar / Devender Pal Singh7 (Junior)1 June 20131 September 2013Shreya GhoshalVishal DadlaniShekhar Ravjiani11₹25,00,000Anjana PadmanabhanDebanjana Karmakar8 (Junior)30 May 20156 September 2015Shalmali Kholgade Sonakshi SinhaSalim Merchant13₹10,00,000Ananya NandaNahid Afrin918 December 20162 April 2017Anu MalikFarah KhanSonu Nigam14₹25,00,000L. V. RevanthKhuda Baksh10507 July 201823 December 2018Anu Malik Javed AliVishal DadlaniNeha Kakkar14Salman AliAnkush Bhardwaj114012 October 201923 February 2020Anu Malik Himesh Reshammiya16Sunny HindustaniRohit Raut127528 November 202015 August 2021Himesh ReshammiyaVishal Dadlani Anu MalikNeha Kakkar Sonu Kakkar15Pawandeep RajanArunita Kanjilal136010 September 20222 April 2023Vishal DadlaniNeha Kakkar15Rishi SinghDeboshmita Roy14447 October 20233 March 2024Shreya GhoshalKumar Sanu15Vaibhav GuptaSubhadeep Das Choudhary154826 October 20246 April 2025Badshah16Manasi GhoshSubhajit Chakraborty168218 October 202526 July 202618Jyotirmayee NayakTanishk ShuklaLR17 October 2026Himesh Reshammiya
Season synopses
Season 1
Judges
Anu Malik
Farah Khan
Sonu Nigam
Host
Aman Verma
Mini Mathur
Top 12 Contestants NameAgeHometownResultPlaceAbhijeet Sawant23Mumbai 1stAmit Sana21Bhilai 2ndRahul Vaidya17Nagpur2nd Runner-up3rdPrajakta Shukre16Jabalpur3rd Runner-up4thRavinder Ravi29Ludhiana 5thAditi Paul25Chennai 6thMukesh Pancholi26Faridabad 7thHarish Moyal26Itanagar 8thRahul Saxena22Ghaziabad 9thAmit Tandon25Kolkata 10thVishal Kothari21Mumbai 11thPriyanka Venkateswar17Mumbai 12th
Season 2
Judges
Anu Malik
Farah Khan
Sonu Nigam
Host
Mini Mathur Aman Verma
Top 12 Contestants NameAgeHometownResultPlaceSandeep Acharya21Bikaner 1stN. C. Karunya19Hyderabad 2ndAnuj Sharma29Himachal Pradesh 3rdAmeya Date26Mumbai 4thAntara Mitra18West Bengal 5thMeenal Jain20Indore 6thRavi K. Tripathi29Uttar Pradesh 7thPanna Gill24Punjab 8thMonali Thakur20Kolkata 9thNeha Kakkar17Rishikesh 10thYashashree Bhave24Satara 11thSagar Sawarkar20Mumbai 12th
Season 3
Judges
Javed Akhtar
Anu Malik
Alisha Chinai
Udit Narayan
Host
Hussain Kuwajerwala
Mini Mathur
Top 13 Contestants NameAgeHometownResultPlacePrashant Tamang24Darjeeling 1stAmit Paul24Shillong 2ndEmon Chatterjee17Kolkata 3rdAnkita Mishra17Kanpur 4thMeiyang Chang24Dhanbad 5thPooja Chatterjee18Dhanbad 6thDeepali Kishore18Patna 7thAbhishek Kumar20Mumbai 8thParleen Singh Gill19Ambala 9thCharu Semwal19Dehradun 10thSmita Adhikari24Kolkata 11thJolly Das25Kolkata 12thRicha Aneja17Punjab 13th
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 Kher
Host
Hussain Kuwajerwala
Meiyang Chang
Top 14 Contestants NameHometownResultPlaceSourabhee DebbarmaAgartala 1stKapil ThapaDehradun 2ndTorsha SarkarBhagalpur2nd Runner-up3rdRajdeep ChatterjeeJamshedpur 4thRemo GhoshDimapur 5thBhavya PanditPune 6thPrasenjit KosambiKolhapur 7thBhanu Pratap SinghJaipur 8thMohit LawaniDelhi 9thKuldeep Singh ChauhanBanda 10thPriyanka NegiDehradun 11thGautam MrinalJamui 12thTulika GangulyFaridabad 13thAnanya MishraLucknow 14th
Season 5
Judges
Anu Malik
Sunidhi Chauhan
Salim Merchant
Host
Hussain Kuwajerwala
Abhijeet Sawant
Top 13 Contestants NameHometownResultPlaceSreerama ChandraHyderabad 1stBhoomi TrivediGujarat 2ndRakesh MainiMumbai Swaroop KhanRajasthan 4thShivam PathakGujarat 5thTia KarMumbai 6thNaushad AliRajasthan 7thShashi SumanPatna 8thArpita KhanWest Bengal 9thYashraj KapilFaridabad 10thManisha KarmakarKolkata 11thMeghna KumarJhansi 12thVishwas RaiAllahabad 13th 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 Bhosle
Host
Hussain Kuwajerwala
Mini Mathur
On 23 June 2012, the judges selected the top 16 contestants to perform in the Gala Rounds.
Contestants NameHometownResultPlaceVipul MehtaAmritsar 1stAmit KumarAmritsar 2ndDevender Pal SinghLudhiana Poorvi KautishChandigarh 4thSohini Mishra Cuttack 5thAmitabh Narayan 6thDeeksha ToorDelhi 7thDeepak Maher 8thKaushik DeshpandeMumbai 9thKritika Tanwar 10thCharith DixitChandigarh 11thRavi Kumar Mishra 12thRitika RajPatna 13thSaumya Mishra 14thSimran KaurPunjab 15thAmrita BharatiBhubaneswar 16th
Indian Idol Junior Season 1
Judges
Vishal Dadlani
Shreya Ghoshal
Shekhar Ravjiani
Host
Karan Wahi
Mandira Bedi
Top 11 Contestants NameHometownResultPlaceAnjana PadmanabhanBengaluru 1stDebanjana KarmakarKolkata 2ndAnmol JaswalJammu and Kashmir2nd Runner-up3rdNirvesh DaveAhmedabad3rd Runner-up4thSugandha DateNagpur 5thSonakshi KarKolkata 6thPriyam BorpatragohainAssam 7thAkash SharmaHaryana 8thSankalp YaduwanshiMoradabad 9thEman ChaudharyAssam 10thAryan DasCuttack 11th
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 Dadlani
Host
Hussain Kuwajerwala
Asha Negi
Top 13 Contestants NameHometownResultPlaceAnanya NandaBhubaneswar 1stNahid AfrinAssam 2ndNithyashree VenkataramananChennai2nd Runner-up3rdVaishnav GirishThrissur 4thMoti KhanRajasthan 5thNiharika NathAgartala 6thRanita BanerjeeKolkata 7thSreelakshmi BelmannuBangalore 8thAjay BrijwasiMathura 9thYumna AjinVengara 10thSurendra Singh PanwarRajasthan 11thVidhi JaswalJammu and Kashmir 12thShubhankarKolkata 13th
Season 9 Judges
Anu Malik
Farah Khan
Sonu Nigam
Host
Karan Wahi
Paritosh Tripathi
Top 14 Contestants NameHometownResultPlaceL. V. RevanthVisakhapatnam 1stKhuda BakshPunjab 2ndP V N S RohitHyderabad2nd Runner-up3rdMaalavika SunderChennai 4thMohit ChopraNew Delhi 5thTajinder SinghFaridabad 6thR P ShravanChennai 7thManya NarangNew Delhi 8thHardeep SinghLudhiana 9thJeli KayiItanagar 10thBharti GuptaGhaziabad 11thMansi BhardwajDelhi 12thStuti TiwariDelhi 13thSaumya MishraRenukut 14th
Season 10 Judges
Javed Ali
Neha Kakkar
Vishal Dadlani
Former Judge
Anu Malik
Host
Manish Paul
Top 14 Contestants NameHometownResultPlaceSalman AliMewat 1stAnkush BhardwajKotgarh 2ndNeelanjana RayAlipurduar2nd Runner-up3rdNitin KumarUna3rd Runner-up4thVibhor ParasharNew Delhi4th Runner-up5thKunal PanditMumbai 6thRenu NagarAlwar 7thSoumya ChakrabortyKolkata 8thAvanti PatelMumbai 9thSaurabh ValmikiLakhimpur Kheri 10thBiswajit MohapatraBhawanipatna 11thKrishnakali SahaTripura 12thIndira DasKolkata 13thSonia GazmerKolkata 14th
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 Dadlani
Host
Aditya Narayan
Top 16 contestants NameHometownEliminationPlaceSunny HindustaniBathinda 1stRohit Shyam RautLatur 2ndAnkona MukherjeeBankura2nd Runner-up3rdRidham KalyanAmritsar3rd Runner-up4thAdriz GhoshMurshidabad4th Runner-up5thShahzaan MujeebAligarh 6thRishabh ChaturvediAmritsar 7thStuti TiwariNew Delhi 8thJannabi DasNew Delhi 9thAzmat HussainJaipur 10thChetna BharadwajGhaziabad 11thKaivalya KejkarNagpur 12thSubhadeep Das ChowdhuryKolkata 13thPallav SinghBallia 14thNidhi KumariJamshedpur 15thChelsi BehuraCuttack 16th
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 Reshammiya
Guest 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 Narayan
Guest 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