Abhijeet Sawant tipped to host; Shreya Ghosal joins judge Anu Maliek on Indian Idol 5

Indian Idol 1 winner Abhijeet Sawant is tipped to host the upcoming season of Indian Idol 5 . And his co-contestant Prajakta Shukre(she was in the top 5), has also been approached to join him as his co-host. Last season Meiyang Chang co-hosted the show with Hussain Kuwajerwala. And the judges for this season are Anu Maliek, Shreya Ghosal and Loy of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. A reliable source discloses, "Prajakta and Abhijeet have been approached to host season five. Abhijeet is on-board but Prajakta has still to give her nod. But the production house and the channel are going to test the duo initially. If Abhijeet gets a positive response from the viewers, he will be retained till the conclusion of the show or else he will be replaced. The show will launch sometime in March." When contacted Sawant refused to comment, however Shukre refused being a part of the show. She said, "I am not hosting the show but I am definitely promoting it." Talking about the judges, our source informs, "Shreya Ghoshal and Loy Mendonsa have also been approached to judge this season. There will be no fourth judge this time. Shreya has accepted the offer and will be judging the auditions only after her current show Music Ka Mahamuqqabla concludes. However composer Loy still has to confirm his participation and talks are still on with him." Confirming the news Maliek said, "I have been approached by the channel and since I was part of all the four seasons there was no reason for me to refuse to be part of the fifth season." We tried contacting Shreya but she remained unavailable while Loy did not revert to out text message. Namit Sharma, Business Head Wizcraft, said, "Nothing is confirmed as yet. We are still testing talent and will let you know when we are ready to make an announcement." We also sent a text message to Ajay Bhalwankar, Content Head Sony Entertainment Television, but he didn't revert. The show which was earlier produced by Miditech is now being produced by Wizcraft and Freemantle Media.