Raghu Ram recalls his viral Indian Idol audition, reveals he was planted by show’s producers to ‘fight with the judges’

Raghu Ram shared that he wasn't an actual contestant on Indian Idol but was planted by the producers to pick a fight with the judges.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | August 18, 2023 02:37 PM IST

Raghu Ram appeared in an audition on the first season of Indian Idol. (Photo: SonyTV)

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Raghu Ram, best known as the judge of Roadies for many of its earlier seasons, was once a contestant on Indian Idol, or so the internet thinks. Raghu’s audition clip from the first season of the singing reality show has circulated online for many years and while many thought that Raghu actually auditioned for the show, he recently shared that he was sent in by the producers just to pick a fight with the judges. Farah Khan, Anu Malik and Sonu Nigam were the judges on the show at that time.

On the latest episode of Cyrus Says, Raghu said that he was a “plant on the show” but the judges did not know about it. He shared that he landed in Delhi after finishing the shoot of the second season of Roadies at Wagah border. His girlfriend at the time was working on the show and when he landed on the set, the crew members asked him to go in the judges’ chamber to pick a fight with them.

“At that time, I had that reputation of being the hot headed Delhi boy. These guys were like, ‘hey man, you have come. Why don’t you go and pick a fight with the judges?’ I said ‘why would I do that? I like them, at least some of them’. And they said ‘no man, people are crying and coming out. You go and fight with them, it will be fun’,” he recalled.

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Raghu said that even though he wasn’t very keen on it, his girlfriend insisted so he went ahead with it. He shared that he didn’t even have a song prepared so he just sang what the person ahead of him had been singing. “I went in to pick a fight. I was a plant but they didn’t know. They were reacting to me genuinely,” he shared.

Since social media did not exist at the time, Raghu said that there was no concept of a clip being viral but many years later, “people are still talking about it.” Recalling his audition, Raghu said that when Anu Malik started giving him his feedback, he asked if he could have done it with manners. “That’s the funny part. I am telling these guys not to be rude” he shared and added, “I pushed back quite aggressively.”

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