Abhijeet Sawant says 'everything was fake in Indian Idol 11', opens up about 'Indian Idol 12' controversies

Popular singing reality show 'Indian Idol 12' has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons after the Amit Kumar controversy.  

'Indian Idol 12' held a special episode dedicated to Kishore Kumar which featured 100 songs of the legendary singer and his son, Amit Kumar was called to grace the episode as a special judge. Later, Amit Kumar stated he was forced to praise the contestants even though he did not like their performance.  

Singer Abhijeet Swant, the winner of the first Indian Idol in 2005, has come forward and spoken about the change in the format of the show and the Amit Kumar controversy. 

Abhijeet Sawant stated that Amit Kumar could have raised his concern then and there and not have waited for the show to air.  

Abhijeet Sawant told The Times of India, "I feel if Amit Kumar ji would have even once mentioned that he is not liking the content, singing or the show can be done in a better way, I am sure the creative team would have definitely listened to him. He is such a renowned singer of our country and he is in that position where he can communicate to the makers what he is feeling. I don’t think it is right to speak after the episode has aired."

In an interview with Bollywood Life, Abhijeet Sawant spoke about the 'extra elements' that have been added to the show and how the focus has shifted from singing. 

"Duration of extra elements used to be short at our time. But more relevance is being given to these elements today. They must give challenging work to the contestants. When you work more on other elements, the level of singing goes down. This is my biggest issue or concern. We must spend more time on singing," Abhijeet Sawant said 

When asked about the love affairs in Indian Idol season 11, Abhijeet Sawant said, "Every such element was fake in season 11, I have no clue about this season." He said regarding the wedding angle between host Aditya Narayan and Neha Kakkar that was added to the show. He further added, "We need to balance such creative ideas with singing. We must be famous because of our singing and not because of these stories." 

Singer Sunidhi Chauhan has also come out and supported Amit Kumar stating that she was also asked to praise the contestants of the show. While speaking to ETimes TV, "Not exactly this that everyone had to do this, but yes, we all were told (to praise). That was the basic thing. And so, I couldn't go on. I couldn't do what they wanted and I had to part ways. Hence, today, I am not judging any reality show," stated Sunidhi.