The inaugural season of ‘Indian Idol’ altered the way Indian audiences latched onto reality shows. Fans of the show recall the fierce battle for the crown between Abhijeet Sawant and Amit Sana even after 19 years. There have been many reality programs that have attempted to achieve that degree of prominence and success over the years, but very few have been able to achieve that. While the show’s first season was a huge success, the candidates who were a part of it still seem to be holding onto some grudges.
19 years later, runner-up Amit Sana claims that the channel disabled his voting lines two days before the deadline in order to give Abhijeet Sawant the victory.
While talking to Siddharth Kannan, Amit Sana revealed that the turning point for Abhijeet Sawant came only after one episode where Shilpa Shetty praised his smile. “A lot of things changed after that. He was taken seriously after that,” he said.
Not just that, Amit Sana went on to further allege that the channel was being partial towards Abhijeet Sawant. “My voting lines got blocked out two days before the last day. It doesn’t get blocked on its own,” he said.
Amit Sana even went further to add that there was some sort of political influence being done in order to help Abhijeet Sawant win the inaugural season of the show. “A lot of people say that there was some political influence involved during that period of time but that’s all just hearsay. I haven’t researched it on my own,” he said.
But then he accused the channel’s conduct, claiming that they had to consider numerous factors before picking the winner of the show. He even went to the extent of claiming that it was not an election in which they were expected to be honest.
Amit Sana went on to apologise to Abhijeet Sawant for bringing this up over two decades later and stated that the two have had a cordial and amicable relationship all this while.
After talking about Abhijeet Sawant, Amit Sana moved on to also talk about Rahul Vaidya, the second runner-up of the show. Amit Sana opened up saying that he was terrified of Rahul Vaidya on the show. He also said that the two had a few arguments throughout the broadcast. “We used to fight a bit during the show. He used to say things to instigate me,” Amit Sana said.
Amit Sana also accused Rahul Vaidya of thinking about himself first before anyone else. Not only that Sana even claims that Vaidya used to be disrespectful to the crew during the show. “From what I understand, he likes to accumulate power. He has always been with people who are very powerful. He has great connections in the political circuit,” said Amit Sana.
For the unversed, during the first season of ‘Indian Idol’, Amit Sana was a fan favourite, and everyone was expecting him to win. However, at the nth moment, Abhijeet Sawant, who was also one of the top contestants, ended up winning the show. Since then, Abhijeet Sawant has gone on to become a hugely popular singer while Amit Sana is still surviving in oblivion.
The 14th season of Indian Idol is currently airing and audiences are loving the show as much as they’ve loved the previous editions of the reality show.
