Indian Idol is a singing reality show inspired by American Idol which gives a stage to singers all across the country to show their talent. It started in 2004 and the craze for this show grew with time. Presently, the 12th season is going on and the fans are waiting to see the winner. Throughout seasons we have seen meteoric rise and life-changing stardom of the contestants. Indian Idol does not only focus on the singing but the holistic personality of the contestants. Many singers like Abhijeet Sawant, Neha Kakkar, Monali Thakur, Salman Ali, and others are great assets for Indian Playback Singing. Here we have curated the Indian Idol Winner List of all twelve seasons where you can also know more about the prize money, where they are now, about runner-ups, prominent contestants, and more.
Table of Contents
List of Indian Idol Winner Names (Season 1 – 12)
| Season | Year | Winners | Prize Money | Runners up |
| 1 | 2004-05 | Abhijeet Sawant | ₹50 lakh | Amit Sana |
| 2 | 2005-06 | Sandeep Acharya | ₹1 crore | N. C. Karunya |
| 3 | 2007 | Prashant Tamang | ₹1 crore | Amit Paul |
| 4 | 2008-09 | Sourabhee Debbarma | ₹1 crore | Kapil Thapa |
| 5 | 2010 | Sreerama Chandra Mynampati | ₹50 lakh | Bhoomi Trivedi and Rakesh Maini |
| 6 | 2012 | Vipul Mehta | ₹50 lakh | Amit Kumar and Devandra Pal Singh |
| 7(Junior 1) | 2013 | Anjana Padmanabhan | ₹25 lakh | Debanjana Karmakar |
| 8 (Junior 2) | 2015 | Ananya Nanda | ₹10 lakh | Nahid Afrin |
| 9 | 2016-17 | LV Revanth | ₹25 lakh | Khuda Baksh |
| 10 | 2018 | Salman Ali | ₹25 lakh | Ankush Bhardwaj |
| 11 | 2019 | Sunny Hindustani | ₹25 lakh | Rohit Shyam Raut |
| 12 | 2020 | TBA | TBA | TBA |
All You Need To Know About Indian Idol Winners
1. Sunny Hindustani- Indian Idol 11 Winner (2019-2020)
From the railway platforms of Bathinda to highest singing platform of the country, Sunny Hindustani is the latest addition to Indian Idol winners list in 2019-20. His fresh voice was well received by the audience that they bombarded with a multitude of votes. He raised the trophy and signed a song contract with trio music composers Shankar Ehsaan Loy.
Sunny used to polish shoes at the Railway Station of Bhatinda, and he had to borrow money just to give an audition for Indian Idol. One can’t hide talent under the rug for long, and Indian Idol Season 11 displayed this saying.
Runners-up: Rohit Shyam Raut, Ankona Mukherjee
Prize Money: ₹25 lakh + Tata Altroz car
Judges: Neha Kakkar, Vishal Dadlani, Anu Malik
Host(s): Aditya Narayan
2. Salman Ali- Indian Idol Season 10 Winner (2018-2019)
With a unique and raw voice, Salman Ali was the Indian Idol winner for Season 10. He received prize money of ₹25 lakh and a Datsun Go car. This show put him in limelight for Indian music industry. He was also the runner up of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L’il Champs 2011.
After the life-changing victory in Indian Idol, he made his playback debut with the song ‘Sab Badhiya Hai’ from one of the best Bollywood movies of 2018, Sui Dhaga-Made in India. He has also given his voice to the theme song of the well-known historical TV Show ‘Chandragupta Maurya.’ Recently we have seen him as a mentor for Superstar Singer.
Runners-up: Ankush Bhardwaj, Neelanjana Ray
Prize Money: ₹25 lakh + Datsun Go car
Judges: Javed Ali, Neha Kakkar, Vishal Dadlani
Host(s): Manish Paul
3. LV Revanth- Indian Idol 9 Winner (2016-17)
Revanth made it to the Indian Idol winner list in 2017. This talented and famous singer has participated in more than 11 singing reality shows and won most of them. But winning Indian Idol title was apex of success in his career.
Post this victory; he sang more than 200 songs in Kannada and Telugu films. His song for Baahubali: The Beginning is a remarkable piece of work for this superstar of the South.
Runners-up: Khuda Baksh, PVNS Rohit
Prize Money: ₹25 lakh + Mahindra KUV100
Judges: Anu Malik, Neha Kakkar, Vishal Dadlani
Host(s): Karan Wahi, Paritosh Tripathi
4. Ananya Sritam Nanda- Indian Idol 8 Winner for Junior (2015)
Indian Idol 8 was for junior talented singers and the show was named Indian Idol Junior Season 2. This time, Indian Idol winner was a Bubneshwar girl, Ananya Sritam Nanda, who won ₹10 lakh and the opportunity to work with Universal Music India for two years. She was also in the top 5 contestants in a singing reality show, Rising Star.
Her mesmerizing voice attracted attention from prominent personalities of the country, including our Prime Minister Narendra Modi, CM of Odisha Naveen Patnaik, and famous singers.
The industry welcomed her with arms opened wide; her first album was ‘Mausam Mastana’ and later sung for ‘M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story’ which is a famous inspirational Bollywood movie.
Runners-up: Nithyashree Venkataramanan, Nahid Afrin
Prize Money: ₹10 lakh
Judges: Salim Merchant, Sonakshi Sinha, Vishal Dadlani
Host(s): Hussain Kuwajerwala, Asha Negi
5. Anjana Padmanabhan- Indian Idol Season 7 Winner (2013)
The first Indian Idol Junior winner was Anjana Padmanabhan, and she ruled the season with an extraordinary voice. The judges always looked forward to her singing. Gradually, she stole the show on the finale episode and made it to the Indian Idol winner list.
At a young age, she started learning Carnatic music and later on participated in Star Vijay TV show – Super Singer 3, where she was among top seven contestants. But she reached the apex musical journey after winning the title of Indian Idol winner. Recently we saw her performing in the singing reality show Taare Zameen Par on Star Plus. Along with that, she participated with her beautiful voice in Ram Darbar. Anjana was also chosen by UNICEF India to feature in a campaign centered at child rights in COVID-19.
Runners-up: Debanjana Karmakar, Anmol Jaswal
Prize Money: Rs. 25 lakh + a Nissan Micra Car
Judges: Vishal Dadlani, Shreya Ghoshal, Shekhar Ravjiani
Host(s): Karan Wahi, Mandira Bedi
6. Vipul Mehta- Indian Idol season 6 Winner (2012)
Vipul Mehta is an Indian Idol winner of season 6 who turned out to be an influential singer. With no singing background, he started learning classical singing when he was just 8 years old. Before Indian Idol, he was the runner-up of another reality show named Amul Star Voice of India 2. Later he worked with other Indian Idol 6 contestants in the album Fabulous Four. In Kaun Banega Crorepati season 6, he surprised Amitabh Bachchan with an opening birthday song when he turned 70.
He is an ambitious singer who aims to carve his niche in Bollywood. He works as an Indian playback singer in many movies and albums like Pukaar, Hello Namaste Sat Sri Akal, Vande Matram, and more.
Runners-up: Amit Kumar, Amitabh Narayan
Prize Money: Rs 50 lakh, a Nissan Micra car, a Suzuki Hayate bike, and Rs 3 lakh from Max Life Insurance.
Judges: Anu Malik, Sunidhi Chauhan, and Salim Merchant
Host(s): Mini Mathur and Hussain Kuwajerwala
7. Sreerama Chandra Mynampati- Indian Idol 5 Winner (2011)
Sreerama is one of the few Indian Idol Winners who hail from Southern India. This season hosted by former winner, Abhijeet Sawant is still among the best seasons, as remarked by Amitabh Bachchan. Sreerama won ₹50 lakh as prize money and received TATA Winger’s keys along with a contract for a music album.
He has sung many songs for well-known movies, including ‘Subhaanallah’ for the movie Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani, ‘Allah Duhai Hai’ from Race 3 and more. He also won the best music debut for Rehnuma in GIMA 2011.
Runners-up: Bhoomi Trivedi, Rakesh Maini
Prize Money: Rs 50 lakh, a TATA Winger, and a music album contract
Judges: Anu Malik, Sunidhi Chauhan, Salim Merchant
Host(s): Abhijeet Sawant, Hussain Kuwajerwala
8. Sourabhee Debbarma- Indian Idol Season 4 Winner (2009)
The first female Indian Idol winner is a girl from Tripura named Sourabhee. With her beautiful smile and melodies voice, she gradually reached the finale and came out victorious. She won ₹1 crore, TATA Winger, and a contract for her first album named Meherbaan. She has a unique Guinness World Record of singing upside-down for 4.5 minutes.
Later she did national and international stage shows. She was in the role of judge for a singing reality show, Voice of North East. Recently, she organized a webinar titled ‘A way onward’ to help people lead a focused and stress-free during this pandemic.
Runners-up: Kapil Thapa, Torsha Sarkar
Prize Money: ₹ 1 crore + TATA Winger
Judges: Anu Malik, Javed Akhtar
Host(s): Hussain Kuwajerwala and Meiyang Chang.
9. Prashant Tamang- Indian Idol 3 Winner (2007)
This season was the first time a contestant from the northeast was recorded in the Indian Idol winner list. As prize money, he won ₹1 crore, Maruti Suzuki SX4, and an album contract. His album Dhanyavad was gratitude displayed towards his friends and family who supported him to reach this height in singing. Meiyang Chang was a prominent personality that emerged from this season, and today we see him work as a host, actor, and commentator.
The victory of Prashant Tamang also reignited the political aspirations of the people of Darjeeling and called for a separate state of Gorkhaland. Media also said that the campaign grew huge, and the total votes for Tamang ‘Pahar ka Gaurav’ were unusual ten times more than Amit Sana’s.
Runners-up: Amit Paul, Emon Chatterjee
Prize Money: Rs 1 crore and Maruti Suzuki SX4
Judges: Anu Malik,Javed Akhtar, Udit Narayan, and Alisha Chinai
Host(s): Hussain Kuwajerwala, Mini Mathur
10. Sandeep Acharya- Indian Idol Season 2 Winner (2005-06)
After the surpassing success of Indian Idol’s first season, Season 2 started with great thrill and aspirations. There was a wave of talented singers, including the famous Neha Kakkar, Monali Thakur; however, they couldn’t win the show. But a Rajasthani boy Sandeep Acharya became the Indian Idol winner. He did not have a very successful singing career, yet he sang few Bollywood and Rajasthani songs. In 2013, everyone was shocked by the news of his death because of Jaundice.
Runners-up: N. C. Karunya, Anuj Sharma
Prize Money: ₹1 crore + Maruti Baleno car
Judges: Anu Malik, Farah Khan, Sonu Nigam
Host(s): Mini Mathur
11. Abhijeet Sawant-Winner of Indian Idol Season 1 (2004-05)
The first Indian Idol winner is Abhijeet Sawant and who can forget his song ‘Mohabbatein Lutaunga.’ Not only Indian Idol, but he also took 3rd position in the Asian Idol contest held in Jakarta and was a runner up in Jo Jeeta Wohi Superstar. He is a well know singer now who has sung for many Bollywood movies. This season also introduced the audience to Rahul Vaidya, who is in the news after become famous contender for Bigg Boss 14 winner.
Abhijeet did not constraint himself to singing alone; rather he tried many areas of work. He joined Shiv Sena but presently not active in politics; he acted in the movie Lottery (2009), hosted Indian Idol season 5, and participated in Nach Baliye 2008. Now he is trying to be connected with his fans through social media and planning to start his reality show on digital platforms.
Runners-up: Amit Sana, Rahul Vaidya
Prize Money: 50 lakh + One album song contract with T- Series
Judges: Anu Malik, Farah Khan, Sonu Nigam
Host(s): Aman Verma, Mini Mathur
Who is the Winner of Indian Idol Season 12?
Post lockdown, this season started with the tagline ‘Ghar Se Manch Tak’ with some exceptionally talented singers. And we all are waiting to see the Indian Idol Winner 2020 (Season 12) who would be the new addition to the list of winners.
Recently in the valentine’s special season, newlywed Aditya Narayan -Shweta Agarwal and Neha Kakkar-Rohanpreet Singh had amazing duo performances grabbing more attention from the audience. So let’s continue watching this season to know who wins the title this time.
Prize Money: ₹ 25 Lakh
Judges: Himesh Reshammiya, Vishal Dadlani, Neha Kakkar
Host(s): Aditya Narayan
Conclusion
Indian Idol is a platform for budding singers who are looking for one break. There are many talented singers who come for an audition, but only a few can actually make it to the show. The competition gets tough with every episode and eventually there is only one who lifts up the trophy. In this blog, you will find the Indian Idol Winners, prize money, and more. We hope you enjoyed the blog.
FAQs regarding Indian Idol Winners
LV Revanth won Indian Idol Season 9 (2017). He is a singing superstar of the South, and you can know more from the blog above.
Abhijeet Sawant was the first winner of the Indian Idol. You can know more about him in the blog.
Sawai Bhatt, Arunita Kanjilal, Nihal Tauro, Anjali Gaikwad, Nachiket Lele, Sahil Solanki, and others are some of the top contestants of Indian Idol season 12.
No, Neha Kakkar was not a winner of Indian Idol, but she participated in season 2
Sourabhee Debbarma was the Indian Idol winner for season 4, aired in 2009.
Sandeep Acharya, winner of season 2, died because of Jaundice at a hospital in Gurgaon.
Sunny Hindustani was the latest addition to the winner list of Indian Idol in 2019.
Prashant Tamang, Amit Paul and Emon Chatterjee were the finalists for Indian Idol.
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