Courting the skies

Will Mission Udaan be National Geographic Channel's latest blockbuster?

This reality show promises to give you an adrenaline-rushing experience of scaling the skies at supersonic speed in a fighter jet. National Geographic Channel's new docu-reality show, Mission Udaan went on air on November 20 and appears to be in tandem with the channel's new positioning, 'Think Again'.

The 10-part series takes audiences inside the Indian Air Force "where", as Nikhil Mirchandani, head, sales & marketing, NGC, says "no camera has ever dared to venture".

Though the programme got a green signal from NGC chief in June this year, NGC India had been toying with the idea for a little over two years.

Incidentally, Mission Udaan takes forward the benchmark set by its earlier programme Mission Everest, that was telecast in 2003. This time the programme is meant to give a unique glimpse into the life and science behind military aviation.

Out of 60,000 entries, 30 finalists, 10 each from Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, were chosen through ground tests on endurance, mindset, decision-making, adaptability and courage to participate in Mission Udaan.

While the initial episodes gave a preview of the finalists, with the third episode this show will present the exciting journey of the five finalists who have been selected for Mission Udaan.

Each episode will deal with a particular facet of the IAF like navigation training, microlite navigation, combat flying, parajumping and parachute flying, to name a few.

The final episode will showcase the winner getting an opportunity to fly Russia's fighter aircraft Sukhoi that has been India's recent acquisition.

The five finalists are undergoing training at various air force stations in Mysore, Jamnagar, Gwalior, Leh, Agra and Pune especially for the programme. In Pune, they even participated in the passing out parade and were felicitated by Air Chief Marshal S P Tyagi.

Meanwhile, for the 35-member in-house team of NGC working on Mission Udaan, it's been more than a challenge shooting in hostile conditions for the last two months. "It was a daunting task shooting under difficult conditions like -60º C. But thanks to the Indian Air Force, we've sailed through the entire process of production, marketing and shooting without any hitch," says Dilshad Master, senior VP, content and communication, NGC.

One only hopes that ad revenues and TRPs can follow Mission Udaan.