The program airs two back-to-back prime-time shows a week: the first night features an hour of performances while the second night features an elimination. The show is produced and broadcasted on Sony TV, India and is coproduced with FremantleMedia (makers of the Idol series), which is owned by the German media corporation Bertelsmann.
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Season One (2004-2005)The winner of the first season of Indian Idol was Abhijeet Sawant.
The last 12 finalists are thought to have a good chance of finding a place in the Indian music industry and films. For example, 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 new 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.
Amit Tandon - January 7
Season Two (2005-2006)
The winner of the second season of 
Indian Idol was Sandeep Acharya.
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". 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 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 also been presented an offer from many music directors and also is recording her solo album. Antara also gets to sing a duet with the Indian Idol in his album for being the top female contestant.Antara also sung a duet with Sonu Nigam in Speed. Monali Thakur, has sung for Preity Zinta in the movie Jaaneman (2006), as promised by Anu Malik. There is also an album being made with the top five (which consists of Sandeep Acharya, N. C. Karunya, Antara Mitra, Anuj Sharma, and Amey Date)
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Monali thakur also sang the super hit song of the year "zara zara touch me touch me " from the film race which music director was pritam and the song was an big hit on the bollywood industry and it was the biggest hit by an new comer
Sandeep Acharya - Winner
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Season Three (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.
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Voting count of Indian Idol 3 Finale has broken many records, around 7 crore (70 million) votes were received.Prashant Tamang has cut a solo album 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 namely; Chang, Suhit, 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 'V' channel. F4 and most of the finalists have done shows in India and abroad. Emon Chaterjee and Deepali Kishore sung a song 'I Love You" for movie 'Don Muthuswami'. The song is composed by Anu Malek. Chang & Deepali are anchoring the Indian Idol 4 auditions along with Suhit, Parleen & Abhishek.
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Several celebrity judges have been on the show to comment on the performances and to inspire and suggest constructive criticism for the singers.
Season 1 & 2They include Juhi Chawla, Priyanka Chopra, Karan Johar, Kareena Kapoor, Fardeen Khan, Salman Khan, [Arif ali] Sohail Khan, Zayed Khan, Diya Mirza, Dino Morea, , Vivek Oberoi, Amisha Patel, Mallika Sherawat, Shilpa Shetty, Tabu and Preity Zinta. Kajol was invited to the finale of both season one and two. Hollywood actor Will Smith made a special appearance to offer his advice to the finalists of season two. Contestant N. C. Karunya aided Will to sing a verse of Eh, kya bolte tu? from Ghulam. In addition to actors, playback singers Sunidhi Chauhan, Kailash Kher, and season one winner Abhijeet Sawant were all invited to judge.
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Season 3
The list of celebrity judges that appeared for season three included many more individuals that were involved in the music industry. However, there were still appearances of actors as well. Season three also introduced Indian Idol Roobaroo, a thirty minute "talk show" format program that allowed the remaining contestants of that week to sit down and chat with host Mini Mathur. On several occasions they were joined by celebrity guests.
The celebrity guests of Indian Idol 3 are:
Usha Uthup, John Abraham and Bipasha Basu for II3 Gala round on Saturday, September 15, 2007
Adnan Sami for II3 Gala round on Friday, September 7, 2007
Sonu Nigam for II3 Gala round on Friday, August 17, 2007
Soniya Mehra for II3 Robaroo on Thursday, August 16, 2007
Kailash Kher for II3 Result on Saturday, August 11, 2007
Anil Kapoor Guest Appearance on Friday, August 10, 2007
Ajay Jadeja Guest Appearance on Friday, August 10, 2007
Ganesh Hegde for II3 Robaroo Thursday, August 9, 2007
Ila Arun for II3 Gala round on Friday, August 3, 2007
Ritesh Deshmukh for Indian Idol 3 Robaroo Thursday, July 26, 2007
Govinda Ahuja for Gala round on Friday, July 20, 2007
Shabana Azmi for Gala round on Friday, July 13, 2007
Zayed Khan for Gala round on Friday, June 22, 2007
Zubeen Garg (date unknown)
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Season 4
Indian Idol Season 4 registration began on April 1, 2008. The show proposes that auditions will take place in Calcutta, Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Gwalior and Lucknow, with the possibility of other cities being added in the future. The fourth season will see Anu Mallik and Javed Akthar on the hot seats as they take judges' chair once again for the show. New to this season, singer Kailash Kher and Indian actress Sonali Bendre will replace the newest additions to the judges panel Udit Narayan and Alisha Chinai respectively, who both only judged for season three of Indian Idol.
Audition of Indian idol 4 in Ahmedabad: May 7 & 8th
Audition of Indian idol 4 in Amritsar: May 19 & 10th
Audition of Indian idol 4 in Bangalore: May 12 & 13th
Audition of Indian idol 4 in Guwahati: May 13 & 14th
Audition of Indian idol 4 in Kolkata: May 20th
Audition of Indian idol 4 in Varanasi: May 16 & 17th
Audition of Indian idol 4 in Delhi: 23 May
The final 100 contestants are slated to be chosen between June and July 2008, the final 30 by October 2008. A special "Wild Card" episode will take place on or about November 2008. The Grand Finale of season 4 is set to take place on or about February 2009 where the fourth Indian Idol will be selected by public vote and presented via a "Live" recorded performance.
