New judges for Indian Idol 12 as shooting shifts to Daman

Anu Malik, Indian Music director & singer and Manoj Muntashir, Indian lyricist, poet & screenwriter, are the new judges of the Indian Idol season 12. They are substituting temporarily for Neha Kakkar, Vishal Dadlani and Himesh Reshammiya, who are unable to attend the shoot, due to Covid-19 restrictions and the strict bio-bubble norms.

Indian Idol shooting is being done in Daman due to a partial curfew in Maharashtra. It has already been two weeks since the last time Neha Kakkar attended the show. Neha had recently posted on Instagram, where she can be seen celebrating her six months anniversary with her husband. It has now come to light that Neha and her family had tested positive for Covid-19. But there is good news for Indian Idol’s loyal viewers as she has now tested negative. To add to that, the show’s host Aditya Narayan is also back as the host after recovering from Covid-19. 

Both judges, Neha Kakkar and Vishal Dadlani took to social media to address the current situation on Indian Idol 12. Vishal posted a photo of himself on Instagram and shared that he had been receiving a lot of messages inquiring about his health. Many of his fans also wanted to know the reason why he was not attending the show. The singer assured his fans that he had loved being on the show. He also went on to say that the only reason he was not attending the show was that he was living with his parents and didn’t want to risk them.  

Here’s what Vishal Dadlani posted on Instagram:

In the wake of events, the judge, Manoj Mantashir, who wrote the Hindi dubbed dialogues for Baahubali-2 and Black Panther fell in the soup. Manoj was mentioning about the relationship he shared with Shammi Kapoor and the late Geeta Baali. As he was addressing the gathering, Manoj made a factual error regarding Shammi Kapoor’s marriage. Manoj Mantashir, said that Kapoor never married again after the death of his wife actor Geeta Baali, however, the fact is that he married Naila Devi. Manoj Mantashri eventually apologized publicly, taking to his Twitter handle.