INDIA. Mumbai: Pawandeep Rajan, won the 12th season of Indian Idol, a reality TV show, and lifted the winner’s trophy, a Swift car and the prize money of Rs 25 lakh in the 12-hour grand finale on Sunday, while Arunita Kanjilal and Sayli Kamble emerged runners-up
In the longest show, the finalists Pawandeep Rajan, Arunita Kanjilal, Nihal Tauro, Sayli Kamble, Mohd Danish, and Shanmukhapriya vied with each other to secure the top position.
The show was concluded after Pawandeep was announced the winner of the show followed by Arunita Kanjilal, who bagged the second position followed by Sayali Kamble, who bagged the third position, Mohd Danish grabbed the fourth position, followed by Nihal Tauro, and Shanamukhapriya. Arunita and Sayli won prize money of Rs. 5 lakh each. Mohd Danish and Nihal Tauro were awarded cheques of Rs 3 lakh each.
The 12 th season which started on November 28, 2020, on Sony TV came to end on August 15. Indian Idol is the Indian version of the “Pop Idol” format that is being aired on Sony Entertainment Television since 2004. The show has spawned spin-offs like Indian Idol Junior, which replaced the show for the seventh and eighth seasons.
The finale started at noon on Sunday and continued past midnight when the final winner was announced. The special guests on the occasion included: The Great Khali, Alka Yagnik, Kiara Advani, and Sidharth Malhotra. The episode was hosted by regular host Aditya Narayana and also Bharti Singh and Haarsh Limbachiyaa.
During the marathon run, the contestants paid emotional tributes to the Indian Army, Navy, Airforce, and other defence organizations with their performance. The Grand Finale not only featured several performances from the finalists, but many special guests also participated in the event.
Javed Ali, Sukhwinder Singh, Raghav Sachar, Mika Singh, Sadhana Sargam, Annu Kapoor, Sidharth Malhotra, and Kiara Advani graced the finale episode. The highlights of the finale were solo performances of Kumar Sanu, Sonu Kakkar, and Alka Yagnik. Alka paid tribute to Lata Mangeshkar and revealed she watches Indian Idol regularly. Sonu was one of the singers who rendered folk melodies.
Udit Narayan put on a melodious performance with six Indian Idol female contestants– Sayali Kamble, Shanmukhapriya, Arunita Kanjilal, Anjali Gaikwad, Anushka Banerjee, and Sireesha Bhagvatula and also performed separately with Alka. Khali thanked the Indian Idol team for having him. Vishal Dadlani also joined the stage for the first time since May and performed with the top six contestants.
