Musical message

9X and the United Nations are ready to deliver the universal message of progress and development through their joint-venture Mission Ustad

X the new general entertainment channel from INX Media can take pride in its new musical competition show, Mission Ustad. Indrani Mukerjea, CEO, INX Media has joined forces with the United Nations (UN) and come up with a noble concept for their new musical show. Mission Ustad(MU), pairs eight professional singers from the Indian film industry as they compete against each other for the title of Ustad jodi. But, as clichéd as it may sound, the good thing about 9X’s new show is it’s for a noble cause. The prize money and generated revenue at the end of the show will be forwarded to the UN Millennium Development Fund and subsequently used for the development of India’s needy population.

In 2000, United Nations members pledged to eradicate poverty and usher development all around the world under the UN Millennium Development Goals programme. Their objective was to achieve their goals by 2015 and the resident coordinator UN in India, Maxine Olson revealed MU was a big step in achieving their target. “Mission Ustad is the perfect way to speak to millions of people and deliver our message of development and prosperity,” said Olson. Indrani Mukerjea, said the show would use entertainment as a vehicle of spreading awareness about this UN programme.

Developed by Endemol, a company which has worked on shows like Big Boss, Deal Ya No Deal and The Great Indian Laughter Challenge Dwitiya, MU has all the key elements of a singing competition. It’s got established singing pairs like Roop Kumar and Sunali Rathod, Kailash Kher and Mahalaxmi Iyer, Vasundhara Das and Mohit Chauhan and Naresh Iyer with Shweta Pandit. These jodis, who have already established themselves as successful singers, will compose original music for selected themes related to the UN Millennium fund and the best scores will make it to the Mission Ustad album. The couple that contributes the maximum number of songs will be the eventual winner. The show like any other reality based programme has a panel of judges. AR Rahman, Javed Akhtar and Lara Dutta form that panel. Rahman particular to judge the music of the compositions, Akhtar for the lyrics and Lara represents the UN as she is the official UNFPA ambassador.

It’s all too familiar for a viewer to see reality shows going overboard with emotional angles and contestant conflicts, but as AR Rahman said “MU is devoid of any histrionics. The contestants will have verbal debates about their opinions and issues, but end of the day it will all be dignified and in the country’s interest”. As a part of the show’s format the contestants will be given a chance to justify their choice of song with respect to the theme involved. Javed Akhtar added to the same saying, “The camaraderie on the show sets apart any cynicism and bitterness of the competition. MU will be a great source of inspirational programming”.

Incidentally, the show that will be hosted by Simone Singh has a rocking theme song Jaago India. The song in a sense embodies the idea behind Mission Ustad, which is to let the Indian masses know about an International programme that will help the nation’s development. And all that nobility will be delivered on 9X from December 1 in the form of an entertaining and refreshing new show.

Courtesy: Screenindia.com