Fame Gurukul is an Indian reality show on

Sony Entertainment Television Sony Entertainment Television (abbreviated as SET) is an Indian Hindi-language general entertainment pay television channel that was launched in 1995 and is owned by Culver Max Entertainment, a division of Sony Pictures. History This chann ...

which premiered on 27 June 2005. The program was produced by the same production house of ''

Indian Idol ''Indian Idol'' is an Indian music competition television franchise based on the ''Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was ...

''. The concept of the show was to select a pair of India's best singers/performers. It is based on the Spanish '' Operación Triunfo'' and international ''

Star Academy ''Star Academy'' is a Dutch-developed reality television talent show format that first aired in the Netherlands as '':nl:Starmaker (televisieprogramma), Star Maker''. Format There are many versions of the show, each country having its own sl ...

'' format of

Endemol Endemol B.V. (stylized in all lowercase) was a Dutch-based media company that produced and distributed multiplatform entertainment content. The company annually produced more than 15,000 hours of programming across scripted and non-scripted gen ...

, better known in English under the UK title ''

Fame Academy ''Fame Academy'' was a British television talent competition to search for and educate new musical talents. The winner would receive a chance to become a successful music artist and part of the international franchise ''Star Academy'' known un ...

''. ''Fame Gurukul'' started out with 16 contestants living in a musical performance academy (Gurukul). Every week (normally) one contestant was voted out of the show, and so on until two remained in the end.

Prizes

The finalists received a Rs.1 crore music contract from

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

in addition to a Maruti

Alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: '' altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In four-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in ch ...

car each.

Season one

Contestants

* Qazi Touqeer (Winner) * Ruprekha Banerjee (Winner) * Rex D'Souza (Runner Up) * Arpita Mukherjee * Sandeep Batraa *

Arijit Singh Arijit Singh (; born 25 April 1987) is an Indian playback singer. A leading figure in contemporary Hindi film music, he is the recipient of several accolades including two National Film Awards and seven Filmfare Awards. He was conferred the P ...

* Monica Gadgil * Shamit Tyagi *

Keerthi Sagathia Keerthi Sagathia (born 14 September 1979, in Mumbai) is a musician and singer. Keerthi is the son of famous Gujarati folk singer Karsan Sagathiya. In 2005 he was a contestant for Sony TV reality show '' Fame Gurukul''. He was a celebrity guest ...

* Mona Bhatt * Ravi Tripathi * Anubhav Suman * Gurpreet Kaur * Amit Jadhav * Chhavi Sodhani * Deepshikha Sharma * Deepak Singh Meher

Faculty

Head Mistress

Ila Arun Ila Arun is an Indian actress, TV personality and Rajasthani folk-pop singer known for her works in Hindi cinema, and Indian pop. She has appeared in many prominent Bollywood films such as '' Lamhe'', ''Jodhaa Akbar'', '' Shaadi Ke Side Effe ...

Music

* Padma Wadkar * Prasant A Samadhar

Dance

* Caesar Gonsalves

Fitness

Deepika Mehta

Judges

Jury Members

Javed Akhtar Javed Akhtar (born 1945) is an Indian screenwriter, lyricist and poet. Known for his work in Hindi cinema, he has won five National Film Awards, and received the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 2007, two of India's highest civili ...

- Lyricist / Screenplay writer / Poet * KK (Krishnakumar Kunnath) - Singer *

Shankar Mahadevan Shankar Mahadevan (born 3 March 1967) is an Indian singer and composer who is part of the Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy trio that writes music for Indian films. In 2023, he was awarded an honorary doctorate (''honoris causa'' degree) by Birmingham Ci ...

- Singer / Composer

Celebrity Judges

Occasionally a

celebrity Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group due to the attention given to them by mass media. The word is also used to refer to famous individuals. A person may attain celebrity status by having great w ...

judge was called on the show to comment on the performances and to inspire the

singers Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

. The following was a list of special judges who appeared on ''Fame Gurukul'': *

Karan Johar Karan Yash Johar (born Rahul Kumar Johar; 25 May 1972), often informally referred to as KJo, is an Indian filmmaker, producer and television personality who primarily works in Hindi cinema. He has launched the careers of several successful ac ...

Bipasha Basu Bipasha Basu (born 7 January 1979) is an Indian actress. Primarily known for her work in Hindi films, she List of awards and nominations received by Bipasha Basu, has received a Filmfare Awards, Filmfare Award. In the 2000s and 2010s, she was ...

and

John Abraham John Abraham (born 17 December 1972) is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Hindi films. Known for his stoic action hero persona, he is a recipient of a National Film Award along with nominations for four Filmfare Awards. Abraham ha ...

Diya Mirza Dia Mirza Rekhi (born Dia Handrich; 9 December 1981) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Hindi films. She won the title of Miss Asia Pacific International in 2000 after being crowned Femina Miss India Asia Pacific 2000. Mirza made her a ...

Anil Kapoor Anil Kapoor (born 24 December 1956) is an Indian actor and producer who works primarily in Hindi cinema, Hindi films, in addition to Indian television and international films. In a career spanning over 40 years as an actor and since 2005 as a ...

Alka Yagnik Alka Yagnik (born 20 March 1966) is an Indian playback singer who works predominantly in Hindi cinema. One of the most prominent singers of 1990s era Bollywood, she has received several accolades, including two National Film Awards, two Ben ...

* Madhavan *

Shreya Ghoshal Shreya Ghoshal (; born 12 March 1984) is an Indian singer. Noted for her wide vocal range and versatility, she is one of the most prolific and influential singers of India. Often referred to as the "Queen of Dynamics'' for her remarkable voc ...

Alisha Chinoy Alisha Chinai (born 18 March 1965) is an Indian pop singer known for her Indi-pop albums as well as playback singing in Hindi cinema. She began her singing career with the album ''Jadoo'' in 1985, and by the 1990s she had become known as the 'Q ...

Aftab Shivdasani Aftab Shivdasani (born 25 June 1978) is an Indian actor, producer and model known for his works in Hindi and also working for Tamil and Kannada film industry. Shivdasani was selected as the Farex baby at the age of 14 months and eventually app ...

Bhumika Chawla Bhumika Chawla (born Rachna Chawla; 21 August 1978) is an Indian actress known primarily for her work in Telugu cinema, along with a few Hindi and Tamil films. She made her acting debut with the film '' Yuvakudu'' (2000) and subsequently became ...

Sarika Sarika (born 5 December 1960) is an Indian actress and costume designer. In 2005, she won the National Film Award for Best Actress for the English-language film '' Parzania''. She was also awarded the National Film Award for Best Costume Des ...

Neha Dhupia Neha Dhupia (born 27 August 1980) is an Indian actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder. She won the title of Femina Miss India in 2002 and represented India at Miss Universe 2002. She is primarily known for her work in Hindi films and t ...

Presenters

Mandira Bedi Mandira Bedi (born 15 April 1972) is an Indian actress, fashion designer, and television presenter. She gained recognition by playing the title role in the 1994 television show, '' Shanti'', which was telecast on India's national channel, Doorda ...

Manav Gohil Manav Gohil (born 9 November 1974) is an Indian actor. He has been active in the Hindi film industry for more than two decades and is best known for his roles in Hindi television shows, including the soap opera '' Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii'', the ...

TV Production

* Manav Dhanda - Creative Director & Project Head * Anupama Mandloi - Executive Producer, Sony Entertainment Television India * Paul Coueslant - Consultant Executive Producer, Endemol International * Nikhil Alva - Series Producer, Miditech

Results

On 20 October 2005, the final show of Fame Gurukul was broadcast in which the final three contestants - Qazi Touqeer, Rex D'Souza and Ruprekha Banerjee battled it for the top spots. After much waiting and various shows in between, the results were finally announced. Qazi Touqeer, the favourite was one of the winners, while Ruprekha Banerjee made up the pair with him.

Celebrity Fame Gurukul

After season 1 of Fame Gurukul, Sony Entertainment Television launched ''Celebrity Fame Gurukul'' based on the successful reality show called 'Comic Relief Does Fame Academy' which was a spin-off on 'Fame Academy' produced by the format owner Gestmusic, part of the Endemol Group. The proceeds of the show would go to the Make a Wish Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to granting the most cherished wishes of children living with life-threatening illnesses.

References

External links

Official website

Celebrity Fame Gurukul Official website
{{Star Academy Indian reality television series Sony Entertainment Television original programming 2005 Indian television series debuts 2005 Indian television series endings Star Academy Indian television series based on non-Indian television series