Indian Idol

Indian Idol
File:Indian Idol.JPG
Created by	Simon Fuller
Directed by	Vishal Mull (2005-2006) (for Sony Entertainment Television) Priya Bhave Sharma (2007-2010) (for Multi Screen Media Pvt. Ltd.) Niret Alva (2005-2006) Nikhil J Alva (2005-2006) Nivedith T Alva (2007) Indrajit Ray (2007) Amitabh Atreya (2008-2009) Monisha Jaising Vaid (2010) Partha Thakur (2010)
Presented by	Mini Mathur (2004-2007) Aman Verma (2004-2006) Hussain Kuwajerwala (2007, Live Shows, 2008-2010) Meiyang Chаng (2008-2009) Deepali Kishore (Audition Shows, 2008-2009) Abhijeet Sawant (Audition Shows, Live Shows, 2010) Prajakta Shukre (Audition Shows, 2010)
Judges	Anu Malik (2004-present) Sonu Nigam (2004-2006) Farah Khan (2004-2006) Alisha Chinai (2007) Udit Narayan (2007) Javed Akhtar (2007-2009) Kailash Kher (2008-2009) Sonali Bendre (2008-2009) Sunidhi Chauhan (2010) Salim Merchant (2010)
Country of origin	India
Production
Executive producers	Niret Alva (2005-2009) Nikhil J Alva (2005-2009) Anupama Mandloi (2010)
Producers	Nivedith T Alva (2008-2009) Namit Sharma (2010)
Production locations	Initial auditions: Various Mumbai auditions: National Centre of Performing Arts, Mumbai
Running time	Varies between 1 hour to 2 hours
Production companies	Fremantlemedia India Miditech Pvt. Ltd. (2005-2009) Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. (2010)
Original release
Network	SET (2004-2009), STAR Plus (2010-present)
Release	2004 – present

Indian Idol, the hugely popular adaptation of the worldwide blockbuster Pop Idol format, took the nation by storm in its very First Season in 2004-2005 and followed that with an equally popular Second (2005-2006), Third (2007) and Fourth (2008-2009) Seasons. While Indian Idol served as the ultimate platform for budding singers from across the nation to realise their dreams, the show went on to become the most entertaining and involving show to hit Indian television.

In keeping with its philosophy of offering innovative and distinct content, Sony Entertainment Television, in February' 2010 announced the launch of the Fifth season of this groundbreaking phenomenon, with an even bigger bang!

The Fifth season of Indian Idol started airing on Sony TV from April 26, 2010. This year, too, Indian Idol will give the people of India the opportunity to chase their dreams and the power to make one talented aspirant ‘Desh Ki Awaaz’. In addition to a recording contract with Sony BMG, the winner of ‘Indian Idol 5’ will be awarded a contract with Sony Entertainment Television worth Rs 1 crore and the contenders will each stand the chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be a playback singer in a forthcoming movie of Yash Raj Films, said a Press release issued by Sony Entertainment Television, thus catapulting him or her into an unparalleled stardom, fame and fortune.

The new series sees two new judges; Sunidhi Chauhan, one of the extremely talented female playback singers of the Indian film industry, created history with her "powerful, amazing, husky ... and sensuous" voice and Salim Merchant, one of the most talented music directors and singers of the country, who has been composing music for over a decade having scored for movies such as Iqbal, Chak De India, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and Fashion. The third judge is none other than Anu Malik, one of the most successful and multi-talented music directors of today. His straight talking coupled with his ‘singing-shayari comments’ has always kept the contestants at ease, making him one of the most talked about judges of Indian Idol.

About the show in Brief

Indian Idol is a ‘Made-for-television phenomenon’ that combines drama and reality with music, humour, emotions, thrill and glamour. The last four seasons experienced a collage of emotions, raising levels of viewer frenzy and excitement coupled with the contestants’ tears and joys, heartbreak and jubilation, learning and achievements. With its immense popularity, Indian Idol will continue to showcase exceptional talent on the nation’s biggest platform. The Indian Idol journey in search of ‘Desh Ki Awaaz’ promises to become an integral part of the viewers’ lives drawing ardent support and a voting frenzy.

Rules and Regulations

Contestants are required to be between the ages 15 and 30 and be eligible to work in India. Contestants are ineligible if :

• They were part of the top 24 from previous seasons,
• They hold any recording or management contracts, or
• They are not Indian citizens, or are landed immigrants (i.e. temporary residents).

Hosts

• Aman Verma and Mini Mathur
  • Season 1 and 2 (2004-2006)
• Hussain Kuwajerwala and Mini Mathur
  • Season 3 (2007)
• Hussain Kuwajerwala and Meiyang Chаng
  • Season 4 (2008-2009)
• Hussain Kuwajerwala and Abhijeet Sawant
  • Season 5 (2010)

Judges

• Anu Malik, Farah Khan and Sonu Nigam
  • Season 1 and 2 (2004-2006)
• Anu Malik, Javed Akhtar, Alisha Chinai and Udit Narayan
  • Season 3 (2007)
• Anu Malik, Javed Akhtar, Sonali Bendre and Kailash Kher
  • Season 4 (2008-2009)
• Anu Malik, Sunidhi Chauhan and Salim Merchant
  • Season 5 (2010)

Summary

Seasons	Aired on	Hosted by	Winner	1st Runner-up	Top-Six Contestants	Judges
Season 1	October, 2004 – March 5, 2005	Aman Verma, Mini Mathur	File:Abhijeet Sawant.jpg Abhijeet Sawant	File:AmitSana.jpg Amit Sana	1. Abhijeet Sawant 2. Amit Sana 3. Rahul Vaidya 4. Prajakta Shukre 5. Ravinder Ravi 6. Aditi Paul	Anu Malik, Sonu Nigam, Farah Khan
Season 2	November 21, 2005 – April 22, 2006	Aman Verma, Mini Mathur	Sandeep Acharya	File:Karunya in IndianIdol2.jpg N. C. Karunya	1. Sandeep Acharya 2. N.C. Karunya 3. Anuj Sharma 4. Amey Date 5. Antara Mitra 6. Meenal Jain	Anu Malik, Sonu Nigam, Farah Khan
Season 3	May 4, 2007 – September 23, 2007	Hussain Kuwajerwala, Mini Mathur	File:PrashantTamang.jpg Prashant Tamang	File:Amit Paul.jpg Amit Paul	1. Prashant Tamang 2. Amit Paul 3. Emon Chatterjee 4. Ankita Mishra 5. Meiyang Chаng 6. Puja Chatterjee	Anu Malik, Javed Akhtar, Alisha Chinai, Udit Narayan
Season 4	September 19, 2008 – March 1, 2009	Hussain Kuwajerwala, Meiyang Chаng	File:SourabheeDebbarma.jpg Sourabhee Debbarma	File:KapilThapa.jpg Kapil Thapa	1. Sourabhee Debbarma 2. Kapil Thapa 3. Torsha Sarkar 4. Rajdeep Chaterjee 5. Remo Ghosh 6. Bhavya Pandit	Anu Malik, Javed Akhtar, Sonali Bendre, Kailash Kher
Season 5	April 26, 2010 - Present	Hussain Kuwajerwala, Abhijeet Sawant	TBA	TBA	TBA	Anu Malik, Salim Merchant, Sunidhi Chauhan

Season 1

File:Judges in IndianIdol2.jpg

All three Judges; Anu Malik, Sonu Nigam & Farah Khan, in Indian Idol 1

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 March 5, 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 extremely talented and popular personalities of the Bollywood; Anu Malik, Sonu Nigam and Farah Khan. They received very rave reviews and immense popularity for their performances as the judges in this show, regaining them the same spot for the Second Season. The first season was hosted by Aman Verma and Mini Mathur.

The winner, Abhijeet Sawant released his first album "Aap Ka Abhijeet", with his first song Mohabbatein Lutaunga becoming very famous among the Indian audiences. He participated in Asian Idol representing India and though being placed third in the competition, he received great appreciation from the judges for introducing them and all the international viewers with such great Indian Music. 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 could not do well at the box office.

Rahul Saxena, who failed to make it to the top 6, has been offered a song by Indian Idol judge and director, Farah Khan, in her own film Om Shanti Om and Amit Tandon got work in a new serial from 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. He did playback singing in the film, Shadi no. 1. He was also the part of the winning team, Shankar's Rockstars in the musical game show Music Ka Maha Muqqabla on Start plus and also 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

File:Indian idol 2 logo.JPG

Agla Kaun?

Main article: Indian Idol 2

The second season was aired on Sony TV from November 21, 2005 to April 22, 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.

Many of the top 10 contestants have commenced their singing careers. Neha Kakkar has rendered a song for a pop album where she sings "Chandani Raatein" and "Tere Baap Ka" composed by Meet Brothers. Yashashree Bhave has tied the knot and settled down, teaching students music at her home. Panna Gill is doing stage shows and has just released a solo album. Sixth place contestant Meenal Jain has released her solo album Mehram and has done stage shows with Sonu Nigam and also received an offer from Anu Malik. In addition, Antara Mitra, a regular favorite of Anu Malik, has got many playback offers, sung the remix version of 'Yeh ishq hai' from Jab We Met composed by Pritam and was also a contestant of the music show [Junoon] and also is recording her solo album.

Monali Thakur sang the song Zara Zara Touch Me in the film Race (film) as well as the song Sexy Lady (Khaab Dekhe Jhoote Moote). Impressed with her singing, 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 truckloads 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 Superstar on the same channel.

Season 3

File:Indian idol 3 logo.JPG

Bharat Ki Shaan!

Main article: Indian Idol 3

Third season was aired on Sony TV from May 4, 2007 to September 23, 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.

Voting count of Indian Idol 3 Finale has broken many records, around 7 crore (70 million) votes were received. 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 successful KitKat chocolate advertisement. Four finalists, Meiyang Chang, Suhit Gosain, Parleen & Abhishek entered into a contract with Sony BMG and cut an album named Tu To Na Aayi as a band of Boys named F4. Videos of the title song and another number Udd Chale have been released. F4 was also declared 'The Next Big Thing' on channel V. Emon Chatterjee from Kolkatta and Deepali Kishore sung a song I Love You, composed by Anu Malik for the film Don Muthu Swami.

Meiyang Chаng, who was placed 5th in this season, hosted the IPL 2009 and also got an offer to act in a movie Badmaash Company directed by Parmeet Sethi. He hosted the 4th season of the Indian Idol with Hussain Kuwajerwala(Piano and the Galas) and fellow contestant Deepali Kishore(the Auditions), replacing Mini Mathur.

Amit Paul sang the song "Pyaar Ki Dastaan" in the film Luck by Chance (starring Farhan Akhtar and Konkona Sen Sharma). This song was offered to him by Javed Akhtar.

Season 4

File:Indian Idol 4.JPG

Yeh World Humara Hai!

Main article: Indian Idol 4

The Fourth season of Indian Idol was aired on Sony TV from September 19, 2008 to March 1, 2009. For the first time in Indian Idol history, there were two girls in the top 3 after Rajdeep Chaterjee was eliminated on February 14. 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. Kapil Thapa finished as a 1st runner-up while Torsha Sarkar finished third.

Sourabhee did some stage shows around the world with Sony TV, including her recent tours to USA in Oct-Nov' 2009.

Registration for season 4 began on April 1, 2008. 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. 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 believed 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. But still, the public proved it wrong when Sourabhee was declared winner.

File:Ii5 logo.PNG

Desh Ki Awaaz!

Season 5

Main article: Indian Idol 5

The fifth season will be judged by Anu Malik, along with new judges Salim Merchant and Sunidhi Chauhan. Audition round is now complete.

The judges had selected top 112 contestants from the entire India. After several rounds, the judges selected the top 16 contestants. Then after public voting, a total of 6 were directly given the entrance to top 12 (Indian Idol Gala) while out of remaining 10, only seven were chosen by judges on the basis of their live performance at the Indian Idol Stage. Now the selected top 13 will compete for the title of Indian Idol 5. This time the selected singers seemed to be more promising than ever before, as per Anu Malik and the other judges .

About the Judges

Anu Malik

• Season 1 to 5 (2004-Present)

File:Anu-Malik-in-Indian-Idol.jpg

Anu Malik in Indian Idol 5

Anu Malik has been the jury member on Indian Idol since its inception. Known for his cheeky and straightforward comments, he is the viewers’ favorite judge on the show and a nightmare to many a young participants. 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 melodious compositions for the movies like Phir Teri Kahani Yaad Aayee, Jaanam, Sir and Baazigar. Some of the prominent films that Anu gave music are Aks, Fiza, Filhaal... and Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai to name a few. His recent work includes Love Story 2050, Kambakkht Ishq, Jaan-E-Mann and the Aishwarya Rai starrer 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.

Sonu Nigam

• Season 1 and 2 (2004-2006)

File:SonuNigam IndianIdol.jpg

Sonu Nigam in Indian Idol 1

Sonu Nigam is an extremely talented singer in Indian Film Industry. He 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 Hain," 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 become a major force in the Indian music industry. He has provided playback singing for a large number of Hindi movies and won many awards. His rendition of the title song of the film Kal Ho Na Ho has been highly popular and is considered a modern legend of sorts. He is recognised for his versatile voice as well as excellent emotion range. Sonu has sung with clear pronunciations, in many languages besides Hindi, including Bengali, Oriya, Kannada, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, 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)

File:FarahKhan IndianIdol2.jpg

Farah Khan in Indian Idol 2

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 in PuKaSa meeting at Kollam

Javed Akhtar is an Urdu poet, Lyricist and Scriptwriter from India whos 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 depature 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)

File:UditNarayan in IndianIdol3.jpg

Udit Narayan in Indian Idol 3

Udit Narayan is a playback singer in commercial Hindi (Commonly known as Bollywood), Urdu, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Assamese 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)

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Sonali Bendre at the launch of Omega Jewellery range in Bangalore, India.

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

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Kailash Kher at the TV show 'Mission Ustaad' in 2008

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.

Sunidhi Chauhan

• Season 5 (2010)

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Sunidhi Chauhan in Indian Idol 5

Sunidhi Chauhan debuts on television as a jury member on Indian Idol 5. A versatile playback singer, best known for her Bollywood film songs, she has 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.

Her breakthrough in Hindi films was Ram Gopal Varma's film – Mast and after that there was no looking back for her. The year 2008 was a highly successful year for the young singer; as she went on to give a huge number of super hit songs like Chhaliya Chhaliya (Tashan), Rock Mahi, Lucky Boy (Bachna Ae Haseeno, Desi Girl (Dostana), Dance Pe Chance (Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi), and Race Saanson Ki (Race).

Chauhan is one of the few female singers who have sung for some of the leading actresses of this generation like Aishwarya Rai, Preity Zinta, Rani Mukerji, Kareena Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Priyanka Chopra and more… She has also sung for legendary actress Rekha. She also sang for the comeback films of two leading Bollywood actresses, Kajol, in Fanaa and Madhuri Dixit, in Aaja Nachle.

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 (2010)

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Salim Merchant in Indian Idol 5

Salim Merchant is all set to venture into the reality showbiz as the one of the judges of Indian Idol 5. Salim is a music director and singer who has been composing music along with his brother Sulaiman Merchant for over a decade and together they are popularly known as ‘Salim-Sulaiman’. They have scored music for movies such as Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year, Pyaar Impossible, Kurbaan, Neal 'n' Nikki, Chak De India, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and Fashion to name a few.

Salim-Sulaiman started by composing background scores for the movies. Their tryst with Bollywood music direction began when Karan Johar’s movie ‘Kaal’, which was an instant hit. Since then there was no looking back for the Merchant brothers who 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, who has learned music from the Trinity College of Music in London, has brought a global edge to Bollywood’s music world, to go with the changing face of the film industry. While his music has a deep resonance of classical music, it strikes a chord with the contemporary too. Infusing different themes like Western, Indian Folk, and Hindustani and Sufi into his music, he has a wide range of audiences across the globe.

External links

• Indian Idol official website
• Indian Idol Season 5 on Sony Entertainment Television - News and Updates