Quick answer: Yes. In MTV Roadies X4 (season 13, 2016), the contestants travelled by car instead of on motorbikes, with each gang leader riding with their own team. Rannvijay Singha announced the change in November 2015, during the auditions, saying it would let the leaders get to know the contestants better. This page is a dated record of that announcement.
From bikes to cars: what was announced in November 2015
Earlier seasons of Roadies were known for contestants riding motorbikes across the country. For Roadies X4, the format changed: the journey would be made by car, a season in which Renault was the title sponsor (see how the Renault Duster became the Roadies sponsor).
The season also brought a big change to the panel. Actor Esha Deol and boxer Vijender Singh, gang leaders on Roadies X2 (2015), were replaced by Neha Dhupia and Olympic wrestler Sushil Kumar, while Rannvijay Singha and Karan Kundrra stayed on. An earlier version of this page spelt the boxer’s name “Vijendra Singh”; he is Vijender Singh.
MTV Roadies X4: the journey by car
In an interview carried by the news agency ANI on 26 November 2015, Rannvijay Singha, the face of MTV Roadies, said that “from bikes we have jumped on cars”. He explained that each team leader would travel in the car with their team-mates, which would give the leaders a chance to know the contestants better than in earlier seasons, when everyone rode solo. He said he was curious to see what conversations would develop inside the cars and did not want a long journey to feel boring.
Rannvijay, who has been with the show since its first season in 2003 and is widely credited as that season’s winner, also said he enjoyed auditioning in Delhi because people there wear their emotions on their sleeves and are bold, which was exactly what he was looking for.
What Neha Dhupia and Sushil Kumar said
In the same ANI report, Neha Dhupia said she was amazed by Rannvijay’s popularity with young people. She described the crowds at the auditions as “just crazy” and said she had seen fans with Rannvijay’s name tattooed on their wrists, something she said she had seen before only with David Beckham and Saif Ali Khan. That is her own account; we have no independent confirmation of it.
Sushil Kumar, appearing on Roadies for the first time, said he wanted to give young people the right direction. For his gang, he said he would choose people with the will to win and real dedication to their goal. He was to lead and mentor a team, alongside Rannvijay Singha, Neha Dhupia and Karan Kundrra.
Audition cities and dates
By late November 2015, the X4 auditions had been held in Pune and Delhi. According to the same report, Chandigarh was next on 30 November and Lucknow on 8 December 2015. The auditions finished in December, as covered in our report that it was a wrap for the Roadies X4 auditions.
How Roadies X4 turned out
- On air: Roadies X4 aired on MTV India from 20 February to 19 June 2016, hosted by VJ Gaelyn Mendonca. The journey episodes began on 6 April 2016.
- Change of gang leader: Sushil Kumar left the journey to train for the 2016 Rio Olympics and was replaced by Prince Narula.
- Winner: Balraj Singh Khehra from Karan Kundrra’s gang won, with Navdeesh Arora from Prince Narula’s gang as runner-up. The full list of champions is on our MTV Roadies winners list.
Sushil Kumar’s later life has included a criminal case: since May 2021 he has been an accused in the murder case of junior wrestler Sagar Dhankhar. As of October 2026 the trial was continuing and he had not been convicted. The dated details are in our Sushil Kumar biography.
Frequently asked questions
Did Roadies contestants always ride bikes?
Motorbike journeys were a hallmark of the early seasons. For Roadies X4 in 2016, the contestants travelled by car with their gang leaders instead.
Who were the judges of Roadies X4?
The gang leaders were Rannvijay Singha, Karan Kundrra, Neha Dhupia and Sushil Kumar, with Prince Narula replacing Sushil Kumar on the journey.
Who replaced Esha Deol and Vijender Singh?
Neha Dhupia and Sushil Kumar joined as the new gang leaders for Roadies X4, taking the places of Esha Deol and Vijender Singh from Roadies X2.
Who won Roadies X4?
Balraj Singh Khehra, from Karan Kundrra’s gang, won the season in June 2016.
Details checked in October 2026 against ANI’s 26 November 2015 report on the X4 journey, the MTV Roadies season records for seasons 12 and 13, and reporting on Sushil Kumar’s court case.
