Unlike Aamir Khan's sanctimonious and weepy form of activism, Mission Sapne and its celebrity guests help real people and entertain the viewers without preaching to either.

I’m not a fan of programmes presided over by celebrities pontificating about the woes of India and what we the audience can do to help. The shows and their hosts have such a holier-than-thou air about them that if India’s problems don’t make you shoot yourself, the sanctimonious air of the anchor will do it.

This is where Mission Sapne wins out. Yes, the name is horrible, and it promo spots were dismal: Ranbir Kapoor selling vada pavs, TV actress Dhrasthiwas selling flowers and Salman Khan playing barber. The thought of Salman with a knife near anyone’s neck – black buck or human – is not very appealing. Worse, the promo leaves out exactly what it is that makes the show a must watch – which I’ll get to in a bit. If you went by the promo, you’d think it was a show about film and TV stars playing the aamaadmi for the cameras. Not exactly exciting television. The actual show is much, much more creative and inspiring.

The first episode, anchored by SonaliBendre, introduced Sunita, a young child with blood cancer. Her father is a manual labourer who lugs cement packs on his back and she has two siblings – an older brother and a twin sister. Sunita can be cured but requires a year of chemotherapy and hospital charges which costs Rs 4 lakh. Her family obviously doesn’t have the money to pay for it. Here's where the celebrity factor comes in.

Mere Sapne highlights an urgent financial need and then recruits a celebrity to help solve it by earning this money by doing something which they wouldn’t ordinarily do. And whatever the celebrity earns, the programme will multiply by 100 and donate it to the person in need.

In this episode, Ranbir Kapoor went out to sell vadapavs to help Sunita. He made Rs 9500, of which Rs 2000 was deducted as the cost of preparing the vadapavs. The channel and its sponsor Tata motors multiplied that Rs 7500 to arrive at a hefty Rs 7.5 lakh donation.

Why do I like this show?

One, it’s not charity. So there’s no playing the lazy benefactor who throws money at a problem. The celebrity has to work and earn money. Forget Ranbir Kapoor, who I don’t think has spent more than 30 minutes in the sun at a stretch in his life, I would have keeled over if I’d had to stand in the Pune sun hawking vadapavs and allowing fans to maul me for a good cause.

Two, when the child and her parents were being interviewed, Bendre’s questions were about her illness and how she can’t go to school anymore – but they never bordered on intrusive or maudlin. There were no attempts to make the child bawl or ask the parents how they felt at the thought that she may die. Neither did Bendre start crying and take away all attention from the girl and her family. The seriousness of her illness came through as did the need for money to provide her with adequate treatment. But there was no rudaali behaviour like we usually see in programmes like SatyamevJayate – where most guests are so busy watching Aamir Khan tearing up that they forget all else. And there are no cutaways to bawling audience members.

The tone of the programme is what makes it special. There’s a fun, joyous element which makes you feel happy at the end, not ready to commit harakiri. I like the fact that not only is the programme (channel and celebrity) helping the kid, you’re also making her have a blast while you’re doing so - instead of making her feel beholden to them.

The producers have hit on a winner of a concept, because everyone in India loves celebrities. And that it gets them to interact not just with the guests but also the aam aadmi on the street will warm many a heart. And I bet the little girl will always remember the time when Ranbir Kapoor sold vadapav and earned money for her treatment -- and even better, hugged and kissed and danced with her. It’s a feel-good moment that will stay with any child forever.

Do the guest celebrities charge to be on the show for that one day? I hope not, because that would defeat the purpose of the show. Bendre is great as the anchor, she’s gorgeous, affable, suitably affectionate without being suffocating. It’s a much better stint that judging those reality shows. I do feel the programme could be shorter. Watching Ranbir Kapoor sell vadapav for 30 minutes is a bit much, however hot he may be. The tension of watching Salman Khan approaching different people with a scalpel might also be too much for a weak-hearted audience if stretched too long. A 30-minute show might have made more sense – but hey, I’m not in charge of selling advertising.

Watch the show. It’s worth it. And it’s nice to see channels and celebrities put their weight and money behind a good cause and turn it into entertaining programming. At least makes me feel less guilty for watching dodgy Hindi entertainment programming as well.

You can watch Mission Sapne on Colors every Sunday at 8pm.

Colors is a part of Network18 that also publishes Firstpost.