Who Is Qazi Touqeer? The Fame Gurukul Winner Who Beat Arijit Singh in 2005 and Is Now Bigg Boss 20's 'Lord'

Open any Bigg Boss 20 page right now and one name is everywhere: Qazi Touqeer. Fans call him Lord. Clips of him singing at odd hours go viral every day. But many young viewers do not know his real story — 21 years ago, this same man won a singing show where a young Arijit Singh finished sixth. Here is his full story, in plain words.

Quick facts first

The Fame Gurukul year

In 2005, Sony ran a singing show called Fame Gurukul, based on a foreign format where young singers lived together and trained. Qazi was not a trained singer. His voice was raw, his style was like a rock singer, and his energy on stage was something else. People loved it. He kept coming into the danger zone and the public kept saving him with votes.

On 20 October 2005, Qazi and Ruprekha Banerjee were named the winners — the Fame Jodi. Together they brought out an album, Yeh Pal, with songs like Karu Kya and Hero.

The part everyone talks about today: Arijit Singh was also on that show. Arijit, who is now one of the biggest singers in India, finished sixth that year. The two men stayed friends. This year, Qazi even shared a video of meeting Arijit in his hometown Jiaganj, looking back at their old days.

The quiet years

After 2005, the big fame slowly went down. Qazi tried acting and other shows. He was seen in the survival show Sarkaar Ki Duniya, and he kept singing in Kashmiri, Hindi and Urdu. In 2015, he was part of the Afghan Jalebi song video from the film Phantom, with Katrina Kaif and Saif Ali Khan, and later put out his own cover of the song.

He has said in the past that Mumbai and the film world felt too big to handle when he was new. The work came, but it did not grow the way his fans had hoped. For many years, to most of India, Qazi was just a name from an old TV year.

Bigg Boss 20: the comeback nobody saw coming

On 6 September 2026, Qazi walked into the Bigg Boss 20 house as the third contestant of the premiere night. Within days, he was the most talked-about man in the house. He sings any time, day or night. He has a pet line fans now repeat everywhere — I am a rockstar, baby. His odd, full-on behaviour made some housemates say he was acting, and some even said it scared them a little.

On the Weekend Ka Vaar of 20 September, Salman Khan spoke about Qazi's different avatar in the house and openly asked what was real and what was a show. Qazi later said his act was only to entertain the public. Fans, meanwhile, gave him a new name: Lord. Reports on the season say the show's strong opening numbers had a lot to do with the talk around Qazi.

There have been hard days too. In the middle of October, talk went around that he had dengue and had left the house. His team said no — he had a fever, but he never left the show. On the Weekend Ka Vaar of 11-12 October, Salman called out Yung DSA and Scout OP for the way they had been behaving with Qazi, almost like bullies, and Qazi broke down on stage that night.

Good to know for Indian viewers

Qazi is still in the Bigg Boss 20 house as of today, and he is safe from this week's nominations — he was not on the final list that came out of the tag task this week. If you watch the show late, our daily Bigg Boss written update on BollyShowbiz has the full episode story every night, in simple words.

My take

Win or lose, Qazi has already done the hardest thing: he made a whole new crowd learn his name, 21 years after his first big win. Singers from his time mostly stayed memories. He is back on prime time, fighting with gamers half his age, and the fans seem to be enjoying every bit of it. Lord, indeed.