The United Nations and Endemol India (producer of reality shows such as Big Boss and Laughter Challenge) have joined hands to produce a music reality show called 'Mission Ustaad'.   The programme will be telecast on 9X, a general entertainment channel from 1st December 2007.  The purpose of the programme is to bring attention to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are a series of time bound targets, with a deadline of 2015, that the world leaders committed themselves to at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000.  India is one among the 192 countries that have pledged to achieve the MDGs: the rights of each person on the planet to food, decent work, health, education and shelter. Half our time is up and there is a lot that remains to be achieved. We hope that the message generated through the programme will be a 'call to action' for a better tomorrow for India. ‘Mission Ustaad’ will act as a reminder that time is running out and that India has only seven years left to keep its promise.

Each week, for eleven weeks, four teams of well known artistes (Sonali and Roop Kumar Rathod, Mahalakshmi Iyer and Mohit Chauhan, Shweta Pandit and Naresh Iyer, Vasundhara Das and Kailesh Kher) will sing original compositions and popular songs with MDGs as the theme. The artistes will be judged by jury of eminent persons – Mr. A. R. Rahman, Mr. Javed Akhtar and Ms. Lara Dutta, who os also the 'UN Chair' on the jury. At the end of eleven weeks, the best team will be the 'Ustaad jodi' and the best songs will go into an album. 

Video Online

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cKqfEpSLqQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYbXgnvlJCg