Remote auditions took place from 18 August to 31 August, 2024, as well as a number of open-call auditions, and from these, the producers selected the contestants who were then invited to audition in front of the judges.[4]
Filming does not take place until the judges' audition round. The year, the auditions were filmed at the Mukesh Mills warehouse.
To mark 20 years of Indian Idol, the platinum mic[5] was introduced that guarantees the contestant a position in Top 15. Each judge could give only 1 platinum mic. Golden tickets were continued, and were given 31 in total, but the golden mic was discontinued. The platinum mics were given to Srijan Porail, Mayuri Saha and Sneha Shankar by Dadlani, Ghoshal and Badshah respectively.
Also, during the judges' audition, the traditional "sticker" of contestant's serial number was replaced with a new "identity card" as shown in the promo.[6] This season the judges were also given headphones to hear the raw voice of singers, without any instruments and processing.[citation needed]
Theatre round
The Theatre round featured the top 31 golden ticket holder contestants performing for the judges. This round was filmed on X, at the Lata Mangeshkar Auditorium, and aired on 9 and 10 November 2024. The judges then narrowed the number of contestants down to 15, including the platinum mic holders.[7]
This year the contestants performed in batches, as picked by the judges according to genre. The batch maybe of two, three or even one and their fate depends on the judges' verdict.
Neeti Mohan served as the guest judge and mentor in absence of Badshah, and Pawandeep Rajan and Mohd. Danish served as guest hosts in absence of Aditya Narayan.[8][9]
The following is a list of the contestants and the song they performed. Contestants are listed in the order they performed.
Ragini Shinde, who was eliminated in the theatre round, when Badhshah was absent, joined as wild card contestant in Gala 1, on request of Badshah, to make it Top 16.
There was no public voting this week and the performance did not count in the competition. Contestants are listed in the order they performed.
This week was divided into two themes, dedicated to directors Subhash Ghai and Mahesh Bhatt. The above said were the special guests and guest mentor for respective nights. The contestants performed on the songs which were in the films directed by them, in the two nights respectively, and this week was the first public voting week of the season.
Shreya Ghoshal was absent this week, due to her live show tour.
Top 16 (23–24 November)
Contestant
Performed on
Song
Manasi Ghosh
Night 1 – An Evening With Subhash Ghai
"Yeh Dil Deewana"
Jyotiprakash Ojha
"One Two Ka Four"
Myscmme Bosu
"Kahin Aag Lage" & "Taal Se Taal"
Ragini Shinde
"Koi Rok Sake To Rok Le"
Ranjini Sen Gupta
"Kitni Baatein"
Ritika Raj
"Lambi Judai"
Vastav Kumar
"Wo Kisna Hai"
Ipsit Pati
"Ek Haseena Thi"
Subhajit Chakraborty
Night 2 – A Night of Nostalgia with Mahesh Bhatt
"Saanson Ki Jarurat Hai Jaise" & "Je Jon Premer Vab Jane Na"
Priyangshu Dutta
"Khamoshiyan"
Biswarup Banerjee
"Bepanah" & "Chale Aaye"
Chaitanya Devadhe
"Mann Ki Lagan"
Mayuri Saha
"Gali Mein Aaj Chaand Nikala" & "Ghunghat Ki Aad Se Dilbar Ka"
Srijan Porail
"Dil Ibaadat"
Sneha Shankar
"Tum Itna Jo Muskura Rahe Ho"
Anirudh Suswaram
"Tum Mile" & "Roop Suhana Lagta Hai"
Gala 3 : Top 16 – Two Themes Special
This week was the first judges' score week and the first elimination took place on basis of last week's votes and this week's scores.
The special guests for first night were Fardeen Khan, his sister Laila Khan Furniturewala and Zeenat Aman celebrating Feroz Khan, and Nana Patekar for the second night. All the contestants performed on the songs of Feroz Khan on the first night. And Vishal Dadlani was absent for this week.
To celebrate an year of the movie Animal, its director Sandeep Reddy Vanga joined as a special guest on the first night. And the second night was dedicated to celebrate Vishal Mishra's birthday. He himself joined the night and served as guest mentor. Also, for Vastav's performance, Bhupinder Babbal joined the sets. This week was the second public voting week of the season.
Contestants are listed in the order they performed. Sneha was performer of the week.
Top 15 (7-8 December)
Contestant
Performed on
Song
Ritika Raj Singh
Night 1 – Celebrating 1 Year Of Animal
"Tujhe Kitna Chahne Lage"
Ragini Shinde
"Aaja Aai Bahar"
Myscmme Bosu
"Satranga"
Subhajit Chakraborty
"O Mere Dil Ke Chain"
Anirudh Suswaram
"Hua Main"
Vastav Kumar
"Arjan Vailly"
Biswarup Banerjee
"Deewana Tera"
Mayuri Saha
"Hawa Hawaii"
Chaitanya Devadhe
Night 2- Happy Birthday Vishal
"Aj mera Jee Karda"
Manasi Ghosh
Ranjini Sen Gupta
"Jhoomroo"
Jyotiprakash Ojha
"Mitwaa"
Priyangshu Dutta
"Kaise Hua"
Srijan Porail
"Pehle Bhi Main"
Sneha Shankar
"Chal Tere Ishq Mein"
Gala 5: Top 15 – Celebrating 100 Years of Raj Kapoor
Both nights of this week were dedicated to celebrate Raj Kapoor's 100th birth anniversary. Karisma Kapoor, Padmini Kolhapure and Anees Bazmee joined as special guests for the week.
Contestants are listed in the order in which they performed.
Top 15 (14-15 December)
Contestant
Performed on
Song
Result (Gala 4+5)
Manasi Ghosh
Night 1
"Mud Mud Ke Na Dekh"
Safe
Ranjini Sen Gupta
"Kisi Ki Muskurahaton Pe"
Safe
Myscmme Bosu
"Ek Radha Ek Meera"
Safe
Biswarup Banerjee
"Dost Dost Na Raha Pyaar Pyaar Na Raha"
Safe
Subhajit Chakraborty
"Jane Kaha Gaye woh Din"
Safe
Chaitanya Devadhe
"Mera Joota Hai Japani"
Safe
Mayuri Saha
"Sun Saiba Sun"
Safe
Vastav Kumar
"Ek Din bik jaayega"
Eliminated
Ritika Raj Singh
Night 2
Yeh Galliyan Yeh Chaubara
Saved
Ragini Shinde
"Panchhi Banoon Udti Phiroon"
Safe
Priyangshu Dutta
"Hum Shaayar To Nahin"
Safe
Sneha Shankar
Chittiye Ni
Safe
Srijan Porail
"Ae Bhai Zara Dekh Ke Chalo"
Safe
Anirudh Suswaram
"Chalat Musafir"
Safe
Jyotiprakash Ojha
"Dum Dum Diga Diga"
Saved
Non-competition performance (14-15 December)
Performers
Song
Myscmme and Shubhajit
"Ye Raat Bheegi Bheegi"
Mayuri and Priyangshu
"Pyaar Hua Hai Ikraar Hua Hai"
Gala 6: Top 14 – Christmas Concert
Both nights of the week they celebrated Christmas. Paradox, Rishabh Rikhiram Sharma, Papon, Priyank Sharma, Nikhita Gandhi, Meiyang Chang were the guests. For the promotion of CID Season 2 Shivaji Satam, Aditya Shrivastava and Dayanand Shetty came to support Ragini Shinde Indian Idol Contestant and came for the promotion of the same.
Manasi sings "Akh Ladh Jave" with Badshah and Paradox.
Gala 7: Top 14 – 90s Celebration
This was the elimination week, where judges had to give scores to the duet performing collectively. The lowest scoring duet will be in the bottom and one of them will be elimination on the basis of last week public votes.
In this week Indian Idol celebrated the greatest love songs with singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya and his wife Sumati Bhattacharya, music composer Lalit Pandit of the duo Jatin-Lalit, singer Sadhana Sargam and actress Preeti Jhangiani.
Gala 9: Top 13- Two Themes Special
Contestant
Performed on
Song
Result (Gala 8+9)
Srijan Porail
Night 1 – 2025 Ka Superhit Start
"Rock On" & "London Thumakda"
Eliminated
Myscmme Bosu
"Hungama Ho Gaya"
Safe
Chaitanya Devadhe
"Namo Namo"
Safe
Ranjini Sen Gupta
"Jo Tum Na Ho" & "Sinbad the Sailor"
Safe
Priyangshu Dutta
"Ye Fitoor Mera"
Safe
Ritika Raj Singh
"Pareshaan"
Bottom three
Biswarup Banerjee
Night 2- Sensational 70s
"Main Yahan Tu Kahan"
Safe
Anirudh Suswaram
"Gulabi Aankhen" & "Badan Pe Sitare"
Safe
Manasi Ghosh
"Yeh Mera Dil Yaar Ka Deewana"
Safe
Ragini Shinde
"Ja Re Ja O Harjai"
Safe
Subhajit Chakraborty
"Khaike Paan Banaras Wala"
Bottom three
Sneha Shankar
"Ankhiyon Ko Rehne De"
Safe
Mayuri Saha
"Naam Gum Jayega"
Safe
Non-competition performance (11-12 January)
Performers
Song
Vishal Dadlani
"Bang Bang"
Shreya Ghoshal
"Chaka Chak"
Badshah
"Let's Nacho"
Badshah
"Ladki Ladki Shehar Ki Ladki"
Ritika Raj Singh
"Jhalla Wallah"
Srijan and Manasi
"Gulaabo"
Biswarup & Shreya
"Soniyo"
Elimination chart
Like last season, this season too, bi-weekly eliminations were held. One week public votes, next week, judges' scores. The bottom contestants are decided according to the judges' scores from that week, and the person with lowest votes from last week is eliminated.
The project head for the season was Chitra Langeh, and Akash Tiwari once again joining as the head of production. Pratyush Prakash was once again the writer of the series. Music guidance and music band were headed by Anand Sharma and Randeep Bhaskar. Aradhana Bhola, the managing director of FremantleIndia was once again the executive producer of the series. The season was directed by Saahil Chhabria.[citation needed]