Sourabhee is the first female Indian Idol

It was an evening when the stars descended on to the sets of Indian Idol. In the biggest spectacle on Indian television, Indian Idol 4 reunited contestants and judges from the three earlier seasons. And what a show it was.

Deepali and Chang man the red carpet

The first to walk down the red carpet was the biggest name on reality television—the very first winner of the Indian Idol title, Abhijeet Sawant. The singer-cum-actor could not keep the smile from his face as he caught sight of pictures of him accepting the award. He said everything that he is today is thanks to the show. Then came Sandeep Acharya and Prashant Tamang along with Meenal Jain and Monali Thakur. The Top 11 also walked the red carpet, as did former judges Alisha Chinai, who said she missed herself on the show, and Udit Narayan. Annu Malek, Kailash Kher, Javed Akhtar and Sonali Bendre joined former Idol contestants Parleen, Abhishek, Emon, Rahul Vaidya, Prajakta and Ankita down the walk of fame.

The big night is here

There was still time to go for the clock to strike 8:30 p.m. and the voting lines would be closed. And to encourage the janta to vote for them, the Top 3 took the stage for their final face off. While Kapil tapped in to the ‘commando’ inside him and descended from the ceiling to sing Mauja re mauja, Sourabhee rode in on a bike with the song Aye bachchu on her lips. Torsha entered more staidly from backstage with a troupe of dancers who she tried to teach dance with the song Dance pe chance.

The Top 3 then kept the excitement to their race to the finish going with the song Race saanso ki. It’s been an exhilarating run for them so far and now they just want the wait to be over and the results to be announced. Hussain announced there were just seven seconds to go until voting lines closed and started the count down. At the end, Chang hit a gong and it was time for vote tabulations to begin.

Mini Mathur is back on Idol

While the counting happens, there was plenty of masala for the audience. First up was Hussain and Chang trying to prove that they were not flirts—that they wouldn’t try to patao anything in a skirt. Mini was the bait and in the hilarious face-off that followed, the two hosts came out looking like the losers—because Annu Malek walked off with the girl!

Former Idol prove their mettle

Flying in the face of all the criticism that contestants of musical reality shows—whether they be winners or not—fade away once the season is over, three former Indian Idol have already rocked the playback singing world with their voices. Abhijeet Sawant (playback for Aashiq Banaya Aapne), Amit Paul (playback for Luck By Chance) and Monali Thakur (playback for Race) took the stage and had the audience on their feet.

But that was not the only surprise. Abhijeet immediately started on the Deewangi deewangi song from Om Shanti Om and, instead of the Bollywood stars, it was the former Idol contestants-cum-celebrities who descended on the stage. It would be an understatement to say that the crowd went ballistic.

It’s the judges’ turn next

The hosts first took us through a run down of all of Annu’s idiosyncrasies and his fiery temper. The judges spoke out on what they feel about the controversial judge. According to Javedji, Annu is three people rolled into one—the first, a brilliant composer; the second, a very naughty person; and the third, a sensible man. But love him or hate him, Indian Idol cannot be the same without him. So the judges decided to present him with an award—a pair of boxing gloves and a cut out of himself.

Next Kailash took the stage to astound everyone with Yeh duniya ootpatanga. He then invited the Top 3 on stage individually to sing with him. Now, that was a very generous gesture indeed.

Let’s get the groove on

It was time for some more performances. The Idols—both former and present—were back on stage to perform to a medley of songs. While Chang showed his Dostana in shorts with Meenal, Ankita and Mohit proved their Kismat Konnection together. Parleen and Prajakta had the audience on their feet with Marjaani, which was immediately followed by Priyanka and Rahul Vaidya dancing to Billo rani. The group then finished things off with a bang, with Desi girl.

Two of the best singers if Indian Idol season 4 were up next. Prasenjit and Rajdeep got together to sing Mora saiyyan moo se bole na.

But that was not all. When the contestants put down the mikes, the judges picked them up—to present the song penned by Javedji and set to music by Annu. Called We wanna live our dreams, the song encapsulated the dreams and hopes of all those who have and will try out for Indian Idol.

However, that was not the end. There was still one surprise up the hosts’ sleeves—a song that brought the entire Indian Idol family on one stage. Dressed in white the Idols, judges and hosts sang the son Pal together, bringing tears to everyone’s’ eyes.

How New York came to Indian Idol

No, we don’t mean the city—we mean the cast of the upcoming movie, New York. John Abraham, Katrina Kaif and Neil Nitin Mukesh came on the sets of Indian Idol to announce the winner of season three. The trio were given a fantastic welcome by the Top 3, who sang the title song from their film. We must say John Abraham was quite a sport. He not only danced with Sourabhee, but he also lifted her up into his arms.

John went on to say that he wanted Sourabhee to win because she was a complete package. Neil, on the other hand, wanted Kapil to win because he believed that he was the voice of the future. However, Katrina sided with Torsha whom she thought had the talent that deserved the title. And if she didn’t win, she could still become an actress.

The Top 3 loses one

The results are in—at least partially. The second runner up’s name was in an envelope but because the hosts were hesitant to read out the person’s name, they asked Sonali to do it instead. And the name was Torsha’s. The Bengali tigress accepted the decision gracefully. She said though she was upset she was also happy that she had been able to fulfil one of her wishes—to become part of the Top 3.