Star Singer is an Indian music reality television competition, broadcast on Asianet and the show, which selected contestants in the age group of 15–35 years compete based on their skill in singing and entertainment.
From season 1 to 7, text messages were sent by the shows' audience to vote for the best-performing participant and a small weightage of this score was considered for a candidate to be shortlisted to next round.
[1][2] The show also features a panel of judges who are prominent personalities in the Malayalam music industry who offer scores and evaluations of performance to the contestants in every stage of the competition.
Starting out in 2006 along the lines of Indian Idol, the chief judge on the show was Malayalam music director M. Jayachandran accompanied by a panel of veteran musicians like K. S. Chithra, M. G. Radhakrishnan, Tippu, Deepak Dev, Jassie Gift, Chitra Iyer, Sugeetha Menon and many other pioneers from the music industry.
The show was co-hosted by singers Vidhu Prathap, Biju Narayanan, Rimi Tomy and Joy John Antony.
In 2007, Idea Star Singer returned with an improved show format and was hosted by Ranjini Haridas, a winner of the Miss Kerala pageant.
In this season, the prize was an opportunity to sing in the next project by film director Vinayan, and an apartment in cochin worth Rs 4,000,000.
A fourth judging spot featured different celebrity guests all of whom are people of importance in the Malayalam film industry.
Najim Arshad from Thiruvananthapuram won the final round, winning the new flat which was sponsored by The Confident Group.
The inaugural episode started with a prayer and song by Najim Arshad, who won the previous season of the show.
The prize was an apartment either Thiruvananthapuram or Dubai City, each valued at 1 million rupees sponsored by the Confident Group.
The final round of this season was aired live on 25 April 2009 from the Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium, Trivandrum and it was hosted by Ranjini Haridas and Meera Nandan (a contestant from the 2007 season) a held at The special chief guest for the finale was Music Director MS Viswanathan.
The eminent judging panel consisted of playback singers Hariharan, K. S. Chithra, M. G. Sreekumar, Anuradha Sreeram and music director M. Jayachandran.
The finalists were Sukesh Kuttan from Dubai, Megha Sijimon from Kochi, Nandu Kishore from Pala and Shamshad from Attingal.
She won a flat in Kochi worth Rupees 5 million from Confident Group run by Dr. C. J. Roy; followed by Reshma Raghavendra, Aslam Abdul Majid at second and third position respectively.
In the first episode, the contestants were divided into two teams – Convent Music School and Gurukulam Sangeetha Vidyalayam.
However, it was decided that the competition will be extended and the show telecast will continue after a short break, post the ending of Bigg Boss Malayalam Season 6.
The initially planned finale was rebranded and conducted as a 'Summer Festival' (telecasted on 11 and 17 February 2024 in Asianet) where the contestants competed for a prize money of Rs 5 Lakhs.
Susheela (Relaunch) Nedumudi Venu (Vishu Special Episode) Shreya Ghoshal (Grand Finale) K. S. Chithra[15] (Mahaguru), Vidhu Prathap (Owner – Convent School), Sithara Krishnakumar (Owner – Gurukulam School) Grooming Panel: Gurukulam School: Kannur Shareef (Principal) Indu Prasad Ashima Manoj Noushad Master Bharat Sajikumar Convent School: Mithun Jayaraj (Principal) Swetha Ashok Merin Gregory Dr.Veena Joseph Aswin Vijayan Guest Jury: M. M. Keeravani (Grand Launch) Vidyasagar (Relaunch) Sujatha Mohan Srinivas Hariharan Rahul Raj Ranjin Raj Guest Jury: K. S. Chithra Mano Weekends Only (From 3 December 2022) Asianet has not made clear how the SMS votes are attributed before and after on each contestants reaching the 'danger zone' leading to their elimination.
Since the channel has its reach over 60 countries including the Indian sub-continent, Sri Lanka, China, South East Asia, Middle East, Europe, United States, Singapore and the lower half of the former Soviet Union at various time zones, the SMS voting end-time was initially not announced.