Indian Idol

Indian Idol
Indian Idol logo as of 2012
Format	Singer search
Created by	Simon Fuller
Directed by	Priya Bhave Sharma (2007–) Monisha Jaising Vaid (2010–) Partha Thakur (2010–) Vishal Mull (2005–06) Niret Alva (2005–06) Nikhil J Alva (2005–06) Nivedith T Alva (2007) Bhavna Israni (2007–12) Indrajit Ray (2007) Satish Datt (2011–12)
Presented by	Mini Mathur (2004–07, 2012–) Hussain Kuwajerwala (2007–) Aman Verma (2004–06) Meiyang Chаng (2008–09) Deepali Kishore (2008–09) Abhijeet Sawant (2010) Prajakta Shukre (2010)
Judges	Anu Malik Sunidhi Chauhan (2010–) Salim Merchant (2010–) Asha Bhosle (2012–) Farah Khan (2004–06) Sonu Nigam (2004–06) Alisha Chinai (2007) Udit Narayan (2007) Javed Akhtar (2007–09) Sonali Bendre (2008–09) Kailash Kher (2008–09)
Country of origin	India
No. of seasons	6
Production
Executive producer(s)	Anupama Mandloi (2010–) Niret Alva (2005–09) Nikhil J Alva (2005–09)
Producer(s)	Namit Sharma (2010–) Ashok (2008–09)
Location(s)	Initial auditions: Various Mumbai auditions: National Centre of Performing Arts, Mumbai
Running time	Varies between 1 hour to 2 hours
Production company(s)	Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. (2010–) Fremantlemedia India Miditech Pvt. Ltd. (2005–09)
Distributor	FremantleMedia Enterprises
Broadcast
Original channel	SET
Picture format	576i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV)
Audio format	Dolby Digital 5.1
Original run	October 28, 2004 – present
Chronology
Related shows	The X Factor India India's Got Talent
External links
Website

Indian Idol is an adaptation of the Pop Idol format. It started airing in India with the first season in 2004–2005 and followed that with second (2005–2006), third (2007) and fourth (2008–2009) seasons. In February 2010, Sony Entertainment Television announced the launch of the Fifth season.

The Fifth season of Indian Idol started airing on Sony TV from 26 April 2010 and concluded on 15 August 2010, when Sreeram Chandra, participant from Hyderabad, India was named the Indian Idol 5. In addition to a recording contract with Sony BMG, the winner of Indian Idol 5 was awarded a one-year contract with Sony Entertainment Television worth 50,00,000, a Suzuki GS-150R motorbike, a Tata Winger Platinum car and a chance to be a playback singer in a forthcoming movie of Yash Raj Films, said a press release issued by Sony Entertainment Television. One of the Top 5 Contestants will also be given the opportunity to become an RJ in Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM.

The new series sees two new judges – Bollywood playback singer Sunidhi Chauhan and composer and singer Salim Merchant. The third judge is Anu Malik, who has been a judge on the show since its launch in 2004.

Indian Idol 6 – the new season has started from 1 June 2012. Apart from the last seasons' judges including Anu Malik, Sunidhi Chauhan and Salim Merchant, this season will bring new judge 'Asha Bhosle' after the audition round is over.

Seasons

Indian Idol title card from 2007–10

Season 1

Abhijeet Sawant, season one winner

Main article: Indian Idol 1

The winner of the first season of Indian Idol was Abhijeet Sawant, from Mumbai. This season was aired from October, 2004 to 5 March 2005 on Sony TV. Amit Sana from Bhilai, Chhattisgarh was declared the 1st runner-up, while Rahul Vaidya from Nagpur and Prajakta Shukre from Jabalpur, MP came 3rd and 4th respectively, in the competition.

The judges for the First season were Anu Malik, Sonu Nigam and Farah Khan. They retained the same spot for the Second Season. The first season was hosted by Aman Verma and Mini Mathur.

The winner, Abhijeet Sawant, went on to release his first album "Aap Ka Abhijeet". He participated in Asian Idol representing India and was placed third in the competition. He also released his second album Junoon which was a success and he also did play back for the movie, Ashiq Banaya Apne. Abhijeet also did some commercials for Spraymint. He started acting with his debut film "Lottery", which was released in March 2009, but did not do well at the box office.

Rahul Saxena, who failed to make it to the top 6, was offered a song by Indian Idol judge and director, Farah Khan, in her own film Om Shanti Om and Amit Tandon landed a new role with Ekta Kapoor and Balaji Telefilms. Amit Sana, Rahul Vaidya and Prajakta Shukre have released their solo albums.

Rahul Vaidya, the 2nd runner up, hosted the show Aaja Mahi Ve on the channel, STAR Plus. He also hosted the popular dance show, Jhoom India. Vaidya also did playback singing in the film, Shaadi no. 1 and was also the part of the winning team, Shankar's Rockstars in the musical game show Music Ka Maha Muqqabla on Star plus. He later became the winner of the reality singing show Jo Jeeta Wohi Superstar on the same channel, whereas Abhijeet Sawant was the 1st Runner-up in the same show.

Season 2

Sandeep Acharya, season two winner

Main article: Indian Idol 2

The second season was aired on Sony TV from 21 November 2005 to 22 April 2006. The winner of the second season of Indian Idol was Sandeep Acharya. The 1st Runner-up was N. C. Karunya from Hyderabad, while the other talented singers from season 2, Anuj Sharma, Amey Date and Antara Mitra were placed at 3rd, 4th and 5th places respectively. Karunya was a favourite amongst the judges and was later declared the unofficial winner of the second season. Menal Jain has since released her solo album Mehram and performed a number of stage shows with Sonu Nigam. She also received an offer from Anu Malik. In addition, Antara Mitra, a regular favorite of Anu Malik, received many playback offers and released a remixed version of 'Yeh ishq hai' from Jab We Met composed by Pritam. Mitra was also a contestant of the music show Junoon and also is recording her solo album. She has also has a song featured in the film raajneeti.

Monali Thakur sang the song Zara Zara Touch Me in the film Race as well as the song Sexy Lady (Khaab Dekhe Jhoote Moote). Music director Pritam offered her another chance in the film Golmaal Returns with a song titled, Meow, picturised on Kareena Kapoor. She also has sung in Bengali.

Karunya released his solo album titled Aapka Karunya. Karunya also got an opportunity to sing in the film, Lage Raho Munna Bhai, with the song, "Aane Chaar Aane".

Amey Date was a part of the team, Mohit's Fighters in the musical game show Music Ka Maha Muqqabla on Start plus and also participated in the reality singing show Jo Jeeta Wohi Superstaron the same channel.

Season 3

Main article: Indian Idol 3

Third season was aired on Sony TV from 4 May 2007 to 23 September 2007. The winner of the Third season was Prashant Tamang, who hails from Darjeeling in West Bengal. The runner-up, Amit Paul was from Shillong, Meghalaya.

The judges for this season were Anu Malik, Javed Akhtar, Alisha Chinai, Udit Narayan. The third season was hosted by Hussain Kuwajerwala and Mini Mathur.

Prashant Tamang has cut a solo album Dhanyabad as per contract with Sony. He also conducted a world tour of shows. Suhit Gosain (Top 14) appeared in a KitKat chocolate advertisement. Four finalists, Meiyang Chang, Suhit Gosain, Parleen & Abhishek entered into a contract with Sony BMG and released an album named Tu To Na Aayi as a boy band named F4. The song Udd Chale had become very successful . F4 was also declared 'The Next Big Thing' on channel V. Emon Chatterjee from Kolkata and Deepali Kishore released I Love You, composed by Anu Malik for the film Don Muthu Swami. Emon also hosted a popular show, Royal Bengal Superstar on Star Jalsa.

Meiyang Chаng, who was placed 5th in this season, hosted the IPL 2009 and also got an offer to act in Badmaash Company directed by Parmeet Sethi. He hosted the 4th season of the Indian Idol with Hussain Kuwajerwala. He also won the dance reality show JHALAK DIKHLA JAA on Sony.

6th runner-up Deepali Kishore had hosted a musical reality show on Doordarshan. Amit Paul sang the song "Pyaar Ki Dastaan" in the film Luck by Chance (starring Farhan Akhtar and Konkona Sen Sharma). He, alongside the 3rd runner-up Ankita Mishra represented India in the Indian Carnival, 2007, at Kuwait.

Season 4

Main article: Indian Idol 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 girls in the top 3 of the competition. Sourabhee Debbarma won the title of the Indian Idol 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.

Sourabhee performed a few stage shows around the country and overseas with Sony TV, receiving immense response from her fans world-wide.

The fourth season saw Anu Malik and Javed Akhtar on the hot seats as they took judges' chair once again for the show. New to this season were singer Kailash Kher and Indian actress Sonali Bendre. The fourth season was hosted by Hussain Kuwajerwala and Meiyang Chаng.

Like the previous season, the first four finalists to be eliminated were female, and the judges opinions were that some of these girls were better singers than some of the remaining boys. All the previous years' top 3 finalists have also been male, leading to speculation of sexism against women among the Indian voting public. These speculations were laid to rest when Sourabhee was declared the eventual winner.

One of the contestants, Bhavya Pandit received an offer to sing the song "Aaja Lehraate" for the film What's Your Raashee, alongside singer Shaan. She also went on to sing "Rani Main Tu Raja" from the movie Son Of Sardaar. The song became a hit and Pandit received appreciation from the audience.

Season 5

Desh Ki Awaaz!

Sreeram Chandra, season five winner

Main article: Indian Idol 5

The winner of Indian Idol 5 is Sreeramchandra Mynampati from Hyderabad. The fifth season was judged by Anu Malik, along with two new judges Salim Merchant and Sunidhi Chauhan. The contestants at the Grand Finale were Sreeramchandra, Bhoomi, and Rakesh. The finale was held on 15 August 2010 (which also happens to be the Indian Independence Day). For the first time in Indian Idol, the finale was held between three contestants.

The judges first selected the top 112 contestants from across the country. After several rounds, the judges selected the top 16 contestants. After public voting, a total of 6 were directly given entry to the top 12 (Indian Idol Gala) while out of the remaining 10, only seven were chosen by judges on the basis of their live performances. The selected top 13 competed for the title of Indian Idol 5. This season the selected singers seemed more promising than ever before, as per Anu Malik and the other judges.

On the episode aired on 13 May 2010, the top 13 finalists selected by the judges for the Gala Rounds were: Bhoomi Trivedi, Vishwas Rai, Swaroop Khan, Sashi Suman, Manisha Karmakar, Tia Kar, Shivam Pathak, Naushad Ali Kawa, Sreeram Chandra, Arpita Khan, Meghna Kumar, Rakesh Maini and Yashraj Kapil.

Vishwas Rai was eliminated in Gala Round 1, Meghna Kumar in Gala Round 2, Manisha Karmarkar the next week, Yashraj Kapil next and Arpita Khan the week after that. The week after that, the public voted out one of the most promising singers, Sashi. The next shocking elimination was Naushad Ali Kawa. Tia Kar was subsequently eliminated. Tia, who never came in bottom 3 was another surprising elimination. Rakesh was evicted the week after, but he was retained by the judges using their "VETO Power" . Very talented and versatile contestant Shivam had to leave next. The last to be eliminated was Swaroop Khan. Thus, Season 5 got its top 3 – Bhoomi, Rakesh and Sreeram.

Sreeram Chandra has already made his debut in the Telugu movie industry. He also sang a song with Shreya Ghoshal for Salim Suleman Merchant during the course of Indian Idol 5. Swaroop Khan also got the chance to sing a song as the playback singer during the course of Indian Idol 5 before his elimination. Bappi Lahiri gave him this opportunity.

It was a huge shock when Rakesh Maini was eliminated. But the Judges used their veto power, which gave them special power to save any eliminated contestant, and Rakesh was saved from being eliminated. According to people it was used appropriately. This Veto could be used just once during the course of the entire competition. The judges had not been granted this special power in any of the previous seasons.

The Grand Finale was held on 15 August 2010. Sreeram won the title of Indian Idol 5.

Season 6

Main article: Indian Idol 6

The Sixth season was aired on Sony TV from 1 June 2012 to 1 September 2012. The winner of the Sixth season was Vipul Mehta.

The judges liked the performances of all three contestants but Vipul won the title as the decision was taken by 50-50 phenomena 50% public voting and 50% judges point. Vipul got highest number of votes.

Mini Mathur and Hussain Kuwajerwala were again back to host Season 6.

The judges for this season will be Anu Malik, Sunidhi Chauhan and Salim Merchant. Asha Bhosle will join the judging panel after the audition rounds.

Initially there will be a selection for Theatre round to determine who will be going to Mumbai for the Piano round. From the Piano round there will be a final selection of who will be voted out by public votes every week in the Gala Rounds.

On June 23, 2012, the judges selected the top 16 contestants who will perform in the Gala Rounds.

Names of these contestants are: Amit Kumar, Amitabh Narayan, Amrita Panda, Charit Dixit, Deeksha Piyush, Deepak Maher, Devendra Pal Singh, Kaushik Deshpande, Kritika Tanwar, Poorvi Kautish, Ravi Kumar Mishra, Ritika Raj, Saumya Mishra, Simran Kaur, Sohini Mishra and Vipul Mehta. The top 3 contestants were Amit Kumar, Devendra Pal Singh and Vipul Mehta. Public speculations suggested Vipul or Devendra will win the Idol as they are the strong contenders.

On August 25, 2012 Indian Idol 6 got its top 3 contestants as Devender Pal Singh, Vipul Mehta and Amit Kumar. They have already performed in the Top 3 Gala.

Vipul Mehta was the winner of Indian Idol Season 6. It was aired on 1 September 2012. He walked away with a cash prize of Rs 50 lacs, a Nissan Micra car and a Suzuki Hayate bike along with an album contract.

Seasons (Indian Idol Junior)

Season 1

The season is having young kids(Age 5-15) as participants as Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L'il Champs.

Judging panel

Shreya Ghoshal

• Indian Idol Junior Season 1 (2013-present)

Shreya Ghoshal (born March 12, 1984) is an Indian singer. Best known as a playback singer in Hindi films, she also sings in other Indian languages including Hindi, Angika, Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Urdu, Oriya, Punjabi, Bhojpuri, Assamese, Nepali, Gujarati and Konkani.

Ghoshal's career began when she won the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa contest as an adult. Her Bollywood playback singing career began with Devdas, for which she received National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer along with Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer and Filmfare RD Burman Award for New Music Talent.[4] Since then, she has received many other awards. Ghoshal was also honored from the U.S. state of Ohio, wherein governor Ted Strickland declared June 26 as "Shreya Ghoshal Day".She has won more than 100 awards till now.

Ghoshal caught the attention of director Sanjay Leela Bhansali when she participated in Sa Re Ga Ma Pa for a second time, this time as an adult.[4] In 2000, Bhansali offered her the opportunity to be the voice of Paro, the lead female character of the film Devdas, that was portrayed by Aishwarya Rai.[4] Ghoshal sang five songs in the film. Her performance won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer, as well as Filmfare's RD Burman Award for New Music Talent. She also won the National Film Award for the song "Bairi Piya".[9]

She has received State Film Awards from Malayalam and Tamil industries and Filmfare awards in Hindi, Malayalam, Bengali, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu industries. She debuted in South through the song "Yen Chellam" in Vasantha Balan's Tamil film Album and she received stupendous success after singing "Munbe Vaa" from Sillunu Oru Kaadhal under composer A. R. Rahman.[10] She debuted in Malayalam through a studio album of composer Alphons Joseph and later gave voice to his song "Vida Parayukayano" from Big B.[11] Her songs in Malayalam film Anwar became hits in Kerala and topped many charts for weeks. She is known for her frequent association with Malayalam music director M Jayachandran. In 2010, Ghoshal sang for the English independent film When Harry Tries to Marry.

Anu Malik

• Season 1 to 6 (2004–present)

Anu Malik has been the jury member on Indian Idol since its inception. Known for his cheeky and straightforward comments, he was also a judge in the first Asian Idol held in Indonesia, representing Indian Idol.

The son of veteran composer Sardar Malik, brother of Abu Malik and Daboo Malik, Anu learnt music from Pandit Ram Prasad Sharma. He composed music for various films but his music finally gained recognition in 1993 for his work in movies like Phir Teri Kahani Yaad Aayee, Sir and Baazigar. Some of the prominent films that Anu gave music for are Main Hoon Na, Refugee, Fiza, Baadshah, Border, Yaadein, Asoka and Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai, Aks to name a few. His recent work includes Love Story 2050, Kambakkht Ishq, Jaan-E-Mann and the Aishwarya Rai starrer.n Umrao Jaan.

Anu won the National Award for his work in Refugee and Filmfare Award for Best Music Director twice – for Baazigar and Main Hoon Na. He also got a Special Jury Award (Filmfare) for his outstanding contribution in music. He has worked with some of most prominent playback singers including Sonu Nigam, Kumar Sanu, Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Anuradha Paudwal, Shaan, Abhijeet, K.K., Sunidhi Chauhan and many more.

With his work in crossover films like Bride and Prejudice, he is among the few Indian film composers with international projects to his credit.

Sunidhi Chauhan

• Season 5 to 6 (2010–present)

Sunidhi Chauhan is one of the most successful playback singers in Bollywood with over 2000 songs to her credit. She began to sing at the age of four and was spotted in the singing contest, Meri Awaz Suno, which she went on to win. She is known for her voice, best suited for item numbers.In the post 2008 cult of having many singers in a film, she is one female singer who is reserved for item numbers primarily, while Shreya Ghoshal for difficult and classical numbers.

Her breakthrough in Hindi films was Ram Gopal Varma's film – Mast. The 2008 year was highly successful for the singer; she went on to give a huge number of hit songs such as Rock Mahi, Desi Girl (Dostana), Dance Pe Chance (Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi), and Race Saanson Ki (Race).

She has won several awards—three Filmfare Awards, two Star Screen Awards, two IIFA Awards, Zee Cine Award and Kelvinator GR8! FLO Women Award 2009.

Salim Merchant

• Season 5 to 6 (2010–present)

Salim Merchant is a music director and singer who has been composing music along with his brother Sulaiman Merchant for over a decade. Together, they are popularly known as ‘Salim-Sulaiman’. They have scored music for movies such as Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year, Kurbaan, Chak De India, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and Fashion, several of these which were among their biggest hits. They have prepared an album for the FIFA World Cup 2010 and were present on the stage during the opening ceremony in South Africa.

Salim-Sulaiman started by composing background scores for the movies. Their tryst with Bollywood music direction began with Karan Johar’s movie ‘Kaal’, which was an instant hit. The Merchant brothers went on to work with Bollywood’s biggest producers and directors such as Yash Chopra, Subhash Ghai, Ram Gopal Verma, and Madhur Bhandarkar among others.

Salim has learned music from the Trinity College of Music in London and has brought a global edge to Bollywood’s music world to go with the ever-changing face of the film industry.

Asha Bhosle

• Season 6 (2012–present)

In May 2012, it was announced that Bhosle was to become a new permanent fourth judge for the sixth season of Indian Idol. She came after the auditions were over though.

Asha Bhosle is an Indian singer. She is best known as a playback singer in Hindi cinema, although she has a wider repertoire.Bhosle's career started in 1943 and has spanned over six decades. She has done playback singing for over a thousand Bollywood movies. In addition, she has recorded several private albums and participated in numerous solo concerts in India and abroad.Bhosle is the sister of playback singer Lata Mangeshkar. Renowned for her voice range and often credited for her versatility,Bhosle's work includes film music, pop, ghazals, bhajans, traditional Indian classical music, folk songs, qawwalis, and Rabindra Sangeets. Apart from Hindi, she has sung in over 20 Indian and foreign languages In 2006, Asha Bhosle stated that she had sung over 12,000 songs,a figure repeated by several other sources.The World Records Academy, an international organization which certifies world records, recognised her as the "Most Recorded Artist" in the world, in September 2009.In 2011 she was officially acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most recorded artist in music history.The Government of India honoured her with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2000 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2008.

Sonu Nigam

• Season 1 and 2 (2004–2006)

Sonu Nigam started hosting Sa Re Ga Ma, a television singing talent competition, which soon became one of the most popular shows on Indian television. Singing offers poured in thereafter, albeit slowly at first. He rose to fame with the Anu Malik composed song "Sandese Aate Hai", in Border in 1997. Sonu's image as a Rafi clone changed after his rendition of the Nadeem-Shravan composed song "Yeh Dil Deewana" in Pardes in the same year. Since then, he has created a unique style of his own, and has become a role model for emerging vocal talent in India.

Over the years, Sonu has provided playback singing for a large number of Hindi movies and won many awards. He is recognised for his versatile voice as well as excellent emotion range. Sonu is known to sing with clear pronunciation, and in many languages besides Hindi, including Bengali, Telugu, Oriya, Kannada, Punjabi, Tamil, English, Bhojpuri, Urdu, Nepali and Marathi. He remains particularly popular in Southern India for his Kannada songs and has won a few awards in this particular industry.

Sonu has released a number of pop albums, both in Hindi and in Punjabi. He has also released several devotional albums, both Hindu and Islamic ones, as well as albums of Mohammad Rafi's songs. These are from the "Rafi Ki Yaadein" collection in his early years, although they have been re-released in September 2007 as a 6-disc collection of 100 songs, titled "Kal Aaj Aur Kal", in Mohammad Rafi's memory.

He has won many awards, such as National Award, Filmfare Awards, both in Bollywood and in South Film Industry, Star Screen, Zee Cine and IIFA Awards, Indian Television Academy Award, Bollywood Music Awards and much more.

Farah Khan

• Season 1 and 2 (2004–2006)

Farah Khan Kunder is an Indian film director and choreographer. She is known for her choreographical work in numerous Bollywood films, as well as directing the films Main Hoon Na and Om Shanti Om. Khan has choreographed dance routines for more than a hundred songs in over 80 Hindi films. In addition Khan has worked on international projects such as Marigold: An Adventure in India, Monsoon Wedding and the Chinese film Perhaps Love.

Farah Khan achieved international recognition with her work in Monsoon Wedding, Bombay Dreams and Vanity Fair. She was nominated for a 2004 Tony Award as Best Choreographer, along with collaborator Anthony van Laast, for Bombay Dreams.

Farah Khan then went on to direct her first film Main Hoon Na which was produced by Shah Rukh Khan. The film was a huge success, and Khan became the second female director to be nominated for Filmfare Best Director Award. As a director, her second movie Om Shanti Om was the highest grossing Hindi film of all time at its time of release.

Farah Khan has received numerous awards for her choreographical work, predominantly from Filmfare. She won the Filmfare Best Choreography Award five times: 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, and 2004. She remains in second place for the most awards won in the category of Best Choreography, first place being Saroj Khan. In 2004, she won National Film Award for Best Choreography – Idhar Chala Main from Koi Mil Gaya

Javed Akhtar

• Season 3 and 4 (2007–2009)

Javed Akhtar is an Urdu poet, Lyricist and Scriptwriter from India whom most of the work is done for the Hindi Cinema. Some of his most successful work was done in the late 1970s and 1980s with Salim Khan as half of the script-writing duo credited as Salim-Javed. Akhtar continues to be prominent in Bollywood and is a sought-after lyricist.

Javed Akhtar was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1999 and received the Padma Bhushan in 2007. Akhtar has also won the Filmfare Award fourteen times, seven times for Best Script, and seven times for Best Lyrics for "Ek Ladki Ko Dekha..." in 1942-A Love Story, "Ghar Se Nikalte Hi..." for Papa Kahte Hain, "Sandese Aate Hain...." for Border, "Panchhi Nadiyan Pawan Ke Jhonke..." for Refugee, "Radha Kaise Na Jale" for Lagaan, "Kal Ho Na Ho" for Kal Ho Na Ho, "Tere Liye..." for Veer-Zaara and "Jashn-e-Bahara" for Jodhaa Akbar.

Akhtar has won the National Award five times. He has been awarded the Filmfare Best Lyricist Award 19 times. In 1996, he won Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist for the film Saaz and in 1997, he won the National Award for Border. He again won the National Award in 1998 for Godmother. In 2000, he again won the National Award for the song "Panchhi Nadiyan Pawan Ke Jonke..." from the film Refugee and in 2001, for "Radha Kaise Na Jale" from Lagaan. He is also on the advisory board of the Asian Academy of Film & Television. In 2001 Akhtar received the "National Integration Award" from the All India Anti-Terrorist Association and the Avadh Ratan from the U.P. Government. He also won the 2003 Hakim Khan Sur Sammaan Award from the Maharana Mewar Foundation, Udaipur.

Alisha Chinai

• Season 3 (2007)

Alisha Chinai is an Indian pop singer known for her several albums as well as playback singing in Hindi cinema.

Alisha's initial albums include Jadoo, Baby Doll, Aaah Alisha. Alisha was introduced to the Hindi film music by the veteran music director and composer Bappi Lahiri. They had many disco hits together in many films in the 1980s including "Tarzan", Dance Dance, Commando, Guru, Love Love Love etc. When she started her career with him, she was doing playback singing for many actresses, such as Smita Patil, Mandakini, Sridevi, Juhi Chawla, Madhuri Dixit and Divya Bharati etc. In 1985, Alisha sang with Remo Fernandes in the album Old Goan Gold. She also recorded a song for Pankuj Parashar's film Jalwa (1987), composed by Anand-Milind. One of her biggest hits during the 80's was Kaate Nahin Katte (Mr. India) in 1987, which she recorded with Kishore Kumar under the music direction of Laxmikant-Pyarelal. Another successful track in 1989 was Raat Bahr Jaam Se from the film Tridev, which had music by Kalyanji-Anandji and Viju Shah. In the 90s, she took on working in different films, collaborating with other music directors, such as Anu Malik, Anand-Milind, Rajesh Roshan and Nadeem-Shravan.

Simultaneously with playback singing, she has recorded many songs as a pop singer, with album releases. Chinai was noted for her 1996 hit single and album, titled Made in India, which was composed by Biddu. Made in India went on to become one of the highest selling pop albums of its times and Alisha became a household name. With the success of this album, Alisha announced her departure from playback singing and wanted to concentrate only on private pop albums. However, following the less success in the pop albums, she came back to the playback singing with a bang. In 2005, she had one of her highest career points came with the song Kajra Re from Bunty Aur Babli. The song was a hit and Alisha won her first and only Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer. Alisha received the International Billboard Award around the time "Made in India" came out and also won the Freddie Mercury Award for Artistic Excellence. Internationally, Alisha received attention when her song "Seulement Vous" won first place at the International Song Festival "Asia 2004". It was also the first victory for India in the Song Contest.

Udit Narayan

• Season 3 (2007)

Udit Narayan is a playback singer in commercial Telugu, Hindi (Commonly known as Bollywood), Urdu, Sindhi, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Assamese, manipuri, Angika and Nepali language cinema. Narayan has sung more than 15,000 songs in more than 30 different languages, of which over 260 films have been in Hindi alone. He is also a recipient of the Padma Shri award, one of India's highest civilian honours, which he received in 2009.

The actual success story of his career began in 1988 with the successful Bollywood movie Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, earning him a Filmfare Award. The film also brought actor Aamir Khan, actress Juhi Chawla and playback singer Alka Yagnik to stardom. After the success of Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, he became one of the leading playback singers in the Indian film industry. This also marked a long and fruitful association with the composers of this film, Anand-Milind, with whom Udit Narayan recorded several hit songs. At the same time, he became a well-known celebrity in Nepal and sang in many popular Nepalese movies.

He has worked with musicians like Rahul Dev Burman, A. R. Rahman, Anand-Milind, Jagjit Singh, Anu Malik, Jatin Lalit, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Kalyanji-Anandji, Bappi Lahiri, Vishal Bhardwaj, Nadeem-Shravan, Rajesh Roshan, Shankar Mahadevan, Himesh Reshammiya, Pritam Chakraborty, Vishal-Shekhar, and leading directors like Yash Chopra, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Ashutosh Gowariker and Karan Johar. These include Lagaan, Darr, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Dil To Pagal Hai, Mohabbatein, Devdas, Kal Ho Naa Ho, Swades, and Veer Zaara.

Narayan has performed in many stage shows in India and abroad and is the recipient of a large number of awards. These include Screen Videocon Award, MTV Best Video Award and Pride of India Gold Award. He won Filmfare Best Male Playback Award for 5 times, National Award for 3 times, Star Screen Award for 2 times and one time each of Zee Cine Award and IIFA Award.

Sonali Bendre

• Season 4 (2008–2009)

Sonali Bendre is an Indian actress and model. She has starred in Bollywood films mostly but has acted in a few Telugu, Marathi, Tamil and Kannada films.

Bendre started out as a model before being selected for the "Star Dust Talent Search". She was invited to Mumbai and received training from a variety of top actors and performers of the Indian film industry. Though she initially struggled to be a successful actress, she was eventually given critical acclaim for her performances in films like Bhai (1997),Murari (Telugu film) Sarfarosh, Zakhm, Duplicate,Preethse (Kannada film), Kadhalar Dhinam (Tamil film), Hum Saath-Saath Hain: We Stand United (1999), Tera Mera Saath Rahey and Anaahat (2003) among many others. She is also known for being one of the few actresses who acted opposite all top four Khans (Aamir, Shahrukh, Salman and Saif Ali Khan). She has also starred opposite some of the other biggest names in Bollywood such as Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, Ajay Devgan, Sanjay Dutt and Anil Kapoor.

In addition to her well-received performances, she is also recognized as a graceful dancer. She is frequently listed as one of the top most beautiful Bollywood actress. In 1995, she won the Filmfare Lux New Face Award. In 2001 she also won the Star Screen Award Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai where she co-starred with Anil Kapoor and Aishwarya Rai. She was the only cast member who was nominated and won the award. She was appreciated for her comic performances in films like Love Ke Liye Kuchh Bhi Karega. In 2004, she won Star Screen Award, Best Actress-Marathi, for the Marathi Film Anaahat. She is recognised as one of the most versatile and talented actresses in the Indian film industry.

Kailash Kher

• Season 4 (2008–2009)

Kailash Kher is an Indian pop singer with very diverse music style often influenced by Indian folk music. He was inspired by legendary Pakistani Sufi singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. His other influence has been Pt.Kumar Gandharva.

In 2002, his song "Allah ke Bande" from relatively obscure movie Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II, made him a household name. His band Kailasa includes Mumbai musician-brothers Naresh & Paresh who were earlier associated with Bombay Black. His song Teri Deewani from the album of the same name by his band Kailasa and especially the song "Ya Rabba" from the movie Salaam-e-Ishq has become a record-seller. He originally hails from Meerut, where he learned Hindustani classical music.

His recent venture into the Kannada film industry has proved a huge success. Special mention has to be made to his song "Hale patre" from the movie Junglee has proved a huge hit among the audience. In 2007, he participated in a concert tour in North America entitled "The Incredibles", also starring Asha Bhosle, Sonu Niigaam and Kunal Ganjawala.

About Kailash Kher, the ace Indian composer, A R Rahman says:

“

I remember how I first heard of him. I had asked Mehboob, our lyricist, for a new voice that is earthy and strong, and he said, I have just the person for you. That voice can only be that of Kailash!' And he sent Kailash to meet me. The moment I heard him, I knew that here was a voice that was so wonderful, and which had its own unique space.... I want to say that Kailash Kher's voice has something that had been lacking a lot – it had pure soul! Allah Ke Bande is one of my all time favorite songs.

”

External links

• Indian Idol 6 official website
• Latest videos of Indian Idol 6