Nepal Idol

Nepal Idol Details:

Also known as	नेपाल आइडल
Based on	Idol TV Series
Country	Nepal
Language	Nepali
Genre	Reality Show Singing Reality Show
Season	5
Episodes	150season 5 running
Release date	12 April 2017 – present
Running time	45 minutes
Judges	Nhyoo Bajracharya (Season 1 to 3, Season 5 – present) Kali Prasad baskota (Season 1 to 3, Season 5 – present) Indira Joshi (Season 1 to 3, Season 5 – present) Sugam Pokharel (Season 4) Sambhujeet Baskota (Season 4) Subani Moktan (Season 4)
Hosted by	Asif Shah (Season 2 to present ) Reema Bishwokarma (Season 1 & 2, Season 5 to present) Reshma Ghimire(Season 4) Mampi Ghosh (Season 3) Sushil Nepal (Season 1)
Directed by	Suresh Paudel (Season 2 to present) Aleen Shrestha (Season 2 & 3) Lokesh Bajracharya Season 2 & 3) Laxman Paudyal (Season 1)
Winners	Buddha Lama (Season 1) Ravi Oad (Season 2) Sajja Chaulagain (Season 3) Bhupendra Thapa Magar (Season 4)
Runners-up	Nishan Bhattarai (Season 1) Bikram Baral (Season 2) Prabin Bedwal (Season 3) Namgyel Tamang (Season 4)
Finals venue	Qatar Pulchowk Engineering Campus AP1 TV Studio, Thapathali
Production Company	Annapurna Media Network FremantleMedia 19 Entertainment
Distributor	AP1 TV

About Nepal Idol Singing Reality Show:

Nepal Idol (Nepali: नेपाल आइडल) is a Nepali singing reality television singing competition that is part of the Idols franchise created and owned by FremantleMedia. Nepal Idol 2017 is the first season of Idol Franchise in Nepal which aired on AP1 TV.

In the first season, auditions were held at seven cities; Nepalgunj, Butwal, Narayangarh, Birgunj, Biratnagar, Pokhara, and Kathmandu. Contestants aged 16 to 30 years of age are allowed to participate. The first-ever season of the show was won by Buddha Lama from Pokhara, Nepal in which a total of 93,100,000 votes were cast for the grand finale. Similarly, the second season of Nepal Idol was won by Ravi Oad from Dhangadi. And, the third season of Nepal Idol was won by Sajja Chaulagain from Morang. According to organizers more than 1,25,000 people were watching the Grand Finale Event live on YouTube, which was a record for any Nepalese Television Show to be watched online. Nepal Idol is produced by AP1 TV for Annapurna Media Network.

In the finale event of season 3, the winner’s announcement was affected due to a COVID-19-positive case from one of the production team members which withheld the finale program, and the winner was declared by a digital method.

For Season 4, all past three judges were replaced by new judges, namely, Sambhujeet Baskota, Sugam Pokharel and Subani Moktan. Bhupendra Thapa Magar was the winner of season 4.

In Season 5 past judges Kali Prasad Baskota, Nhyoo Bajracharya, and Indira Joshi returned to Nepal Idol once again. Also, Reema Bishwakarama was back as a host once again along with Asif Shah. This was announced through a promo video published by AP1 TV.

Nepal Idol Format:

Nepal Idol also follows the format provided by FremantleMedia from Idol Bible and is followed by other versions of the Idol Series.

Hosts

As per the format, there is at least one or two hosts both of them being of the same gender or opposite gender.

Judges

A preselected panel of music industry representatives are given to judge the contestants in a prejudge round which is not televised. An actual panel of judges of three or five-judge the contestants from Televised Audition to the Grand Finale.

Performance stages

• Auditions are held in numerous places in any particular region or country that give most people (audition entry is bound by certain legal requirements such as age and citizenship for example) the chance to sing in front of musical/television producers and if successful, they advance to a recorded televised audition where the show “judges” advance up to 300 people in some countries to the next round.
• The Theatre round is where a specially selected group of auditioners from all regional auditions converge (always in the host city) to perform in three sub stages: a chorus line in groups of 10 where free song choices are allowed, a trio (or less commonly a duo or quartet) where contestants must memorize a preselected song to perform and choreograph together, and finally a solo a cappella round where contestants sing a song of their own choice without musical backing in front of friends, family, judges & fellow contestants. Each stage of the theatre round, a number of contestants are eliminated and sent home by the judges, very few contestants brought back during the Wildcards show.
• Piano Round: After theatre, top 18 or top 20 contestants are selected. They are divided into 8 or 10 within themselves and 3 or 4 are eliminated from the round. Eliminated contestants are brought back during wildcard shows.
• Gala Round: The gala occurs usually pre-recorded where contestants sing in a television studio fully televised; again judges give critiques but beginning at this stage, home viewers vote via telephone and SMS (and in some countries other voting mechanisms including via Internet) who they want to stay in the competition. The contestants are judged by 50% audience vote and 50% judges marking. Gala usually consists of 12 contestants where they perform individually or in a group (usually in elimination day) semi-final contestants sing every week until all finalists have been chosen. Wildcards episode is also featured. Judges can use veto power of no elimination for only one time.
• Grand Finale: The Grand Finale occurs when there are three contestants left in the competition. This is the pinnacle of the entire series and often highest-rated show; also for some countries, it is venued in a prestigious location. There are usually group performances and/or special musical guests. Also, it has the best moments of the series which leads up to the announcement of the winner, which is determined by the highest number of votes. When that happens, he or she will perform an encore of the coronation single which sometimes includes pyrotechnics/fireworks. In every round, the set is often changed.

Nepal Idol Hosts:

Nepal Idol was hosted by television actor and model Sushil Nepal and actress, model, VJ and television journalist Reema Bishwokarma. After announcement of season 2 Sushil Nepal was replaced by versatile and talented media personality Asif Shah who is also Television Producer, music video and tvc director, singer and actor from famous Nepali movie, ‘Dui Rupiyan’. For season 3, new host Mampi Ghosh replaced Reema Bishwokarma who moved to Comedy Champions. In 2019, Asif Shah and Mampi Ghosh, previously known as Pawankali, hosted the third season. Similarly, Mampi Ghosh got replaced by Reshma Ghimire in Season 4. Reema Bishwokarma returned once again in Season 5.

Nepal Idol Judges:

Season 1-3

In season one, two and three the judges were Nhyoo Bajracharya, Indira Joshi and Kali Prasad Baskota. Bajracharya is a music composer and singer. He has composed dozens of famous songs in Nepali, Nepal bhasa and Hindi. His popular compositions include “Ful ko aakhaa ma fulai sanasar” with Ani Choying Drolma with his fusion style music. Indira Joshi is a singer, model, and actress. She released the song “‘Rato Ghanghara” from her album Dance with Me. She has also sung the item number “Udhreko choli” from the movie Loot. She had already been among top 5 contestants in the first season of Nepali singing reality show Nepali Tara. Kali Prasad Baskota is a singer, musician, writer, and lyricist. His initial hits were the songs like “Chahana Sakiyo” and “Laija Re”. Kali had done his singing debut from song “Jaalma” from movie Resham Filili which was one of the biggest hit of that time. His other popular compositions includes “Thamel Baazar” from the movie Loot 2, “Nira” from Purano Dunga movie and one of the biggest hit “Saili”. All three judges were replaced in Season 4 as they moved for other reality show, Saregamapa Lil Champs.

Season 4

All three judges from last three seasons were replaced by Sambhujeet Baskota, Subani Moktan and Sugam Pokharel. Sambhujeet Baskota is a Nepali music composer who is considered to be the most popular and prolific music director of the Nepali Film Industry. He has composed over 3,000 songs, which have appeared in more than 250 films. He has composed songs for many Nepali hit films like Prem Pinda, Karodpati, Thuldai etc. Similarly, Sugam Pokharel is a Nepali popular pop singer, songwriter, RJ and music composer who is working in the Nepali music industry since 1995. In recent years, he has been also known as a popular playback singer. He became popular as a playback singer for the song Ke yo Maya ho from the movie Mero Auta Sathi Chha. Most of the Nepali people remember him for the festival song Dashain Tihar. He has given many other hit songs such as Mero Auta Sathi Chha, Mero Sansar, K yo Maya ho, Feri tyo din, etc. Likewise, Subani Moktan is a singer/songwriter and also a music arranger. Besides her own independent music, she also works as a playback singer for movies and a teacher at Kathmandu Jazz Conservatory.

Season 5

The three old judges Nhyoo Bajracharya, Indira Joshi and Kali Prasad Baskota returned to Nepal Idol Season 5 after a break of a season.

Nepal Idol Season Summary:

Season	Year	First Aired	Last Aired	Hosts	Judges	Network	Total Episodes	Winner	Runner-up	Director/s
1	2017	Apr 23, 2017	Sept 23, 2017	Sushil Nepal Reema Bishwokarma	Nhyoo Bajracharya Indira Joshi Kali Prasad Baskota	AP1 TV	39	Buddha Lama	Nishan Bhattarai	Laxman Poudyal
2	2018	Aug 9, 2018	Dec 21, 2018	Asif Shah Reema Bishwokarma	Nhyoo Bajracharya Indira Joshi Kali Prasad Baskota	AP1 TV	38	Ravi Oad	Bikram Baral	Suresh Paudel Aleen Shrestha Lokesh Bajracharya
3	2019/20	Dec 19, 2019	Aug 28, 2020	Asif Shah Mampi Ghosh	Nhyoo Bajracharya Indira Joshi Kali Prasad Baskota	AP1 TV	36	Sajja Chaulagain	Prabin Bedwal	Suresh Paudel Aleen Shrestha Lokesh Bajracharya
4	2021/22	Dec 9, 2021	Mar 19, 2022	Asif Shah Reshma Ghimire	Sambhujeet Baskota Sugam Pokharel Subani Moktan	AP1 TV	30	Bhupendra Thapa Magar	Namgyel Tamang	Suresh Paudel
5	2024	Mar 8, 2024	TBD	Asif Shah Reema Bishwokarma	Nhyoo Bajracharya Indira Joshi Kali Prasad Baskota	AP1 TV	TBD	TBD	TBD	Suresh Paudel

(Note: “TBD” means “To Be Determined”)