MUMBAI: Sony Entertainment Television is bringing back the third season of its musical talent hunt, Indian Idol which is an adaptation of the US blockbuster ?‹?“American Idol?‹?“.

The third season of Indian Idol will witness two new judges - Alisha Chinai and Udit Narayan along with Anu Malik. In addition to a recording contract with Sony BMG, the ?‹?“Indian Idol?‹?“ will be awarded a contract with Sony Entertainment Television worth Rs 10 million, thus catapulting him/her to unparalleled stardom, fame and fortune.

This year to, the show promises to bring the viewers the best singing talent across the country and for that the audition has started in 12 cities starting with - Jodhpur - Bhubaneshwar (Feb 15th), Hyderabad- Amritsar (Feb 18th), Srinagar- Nagpur (Feb 21st), Baroda (Feb 27th & 28th), Bhopal (March 7th & 8th), Kanpur (March 12th & 13th), Delhi (March 17th, 18th & 19th), Kolkata (March 24th, 25th & 26th), Mumbai (March 31st, 1st & 2nd April).

To make the participation universal and allow easy registration the channel has set up multiple gateways. Besides that, the channel will yet again unleash another wave of innovations as part of its 360-degree marketing and communication campaign. This would leverage various conventional and unconventional media vehicles as well as innovations.

The network invites, budding aspirants between the ages of 16-30 that can call in to register at any of the audition centers mentioned above. The lines opened up on 10 February. The numbers for registration are listed below:

--SMS Idol to 2525--call 5052525 and say Idol (available only on select networks)--Dial 1255525 (BSNL landline & mobile users which is applicable to all cities).

Highlighting the essence of this worldwide phenomenon, geared to hit India once more, Sony Entertainment Television Executive Vice President & Business Head, Albert Almeida said, "As witnessed in the last two seasons of Indian Idol the third season too promises to take viewer engagement and interactivity to even greater heights while catapulting the Indian Idol into ultimate stardom. This year too, the channel will give talented singers from across the nation the platform to realize their dreams and put fame and fortune within their reach while offering distinctive, breakthrough entertainment. Indian Idol will showcase the best singing talent from across the nation via a 12-city audition. The journey of finding Bharat Ki Shaan-Indian Idol 3 will enthrall the Indian audiences and help them connect, leading to extreme involvement and mass frenzy."

Sony Entertainment Television is once again partnering with the production houses - Miditech Pvt Ltd, the international company - Fremantle Media who is the license holders of the format Indian Idol 3.

The last two seasons saw the whole nation tune into Indian Idol which have emerged two Indian Idol Abhijeet Sawant and Sandeep Acharya respectively.