Visakhapatnam-based LV Revanth Kumar, who is already a known singer in the southern entertainment industry and has sung around 200 songs in southern films including Baahubali: The Beginning, won popular singing reality show Indian Idol 9 on Sunday.

He was announced the winner of Indian Idol by none other than the cricket legend, Sachin Tendulkar. Besides the title, Revanth won prize money of INR 25 lakh, Mahindra KUV100 and a music contract with Sony Music.

The seasons finale witnessed three contestants – Revanth, Khuda Baksh and PVNS Rohit. Despite not knowing Hindi, Revanth sang Bollywood songs effortlessly throughout the season

“Right now I am on cloud nine. I am very happy for winning the show. I would say that my life has just begun right now. It’s not easy to win that title being a south Indian singer. I saw this show as a big opportunity. The four-month journey in this show has completely changed my life,” Revanth told IANS.

He revealed that now he will be realizing his Bollywood dreams, though he has no plans on quitting Tollywood. He is going to strike a balance between both the industries. Revanth’s first film song happened in 2008, Jalak Diklaja for Telugu movie Maha Yagnam. Revanth is the second Telugu singer to win Indian Idol, after Sreeram Chandra, who won the fifth season.

This season of the long running musical reality show saw the comeback of ace choreographer-filmmaker Farah Khan, renowned singer Sonu Nigam and music composer Annu Malik on the panel of judges. The show was hosted by Karan Wahi and Paritosh Tripathi.

Actor-comedian Sunil Grover, who hasn’t yet returned to The Kapil Sharma Show after the spat with his co-star Kapil, wore his Doctor Mashoor Gulati’s coat for Indian Idol’s finale and had everyone in splits. The finale also saw the judges of Sabse Bada Kalakaar, Sony’s new reality show, Raveena Tandon, Arshad Warsi and Boman Irani. The trio interacted with the finalists and Raveena was also seen shaking a leg with them.