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In the picture
Mission Istaanbul**1/2
*ing Vivek Oberoi, Zayed Khan, Shweta Bharadwaj, Shabbir Ahluwalia, Nikitin Dheer and Shreya Saran.
Directed by Apoorva Lakhia
Tagline: Darr ke agay jeet hai!

 
 
Terrorism seems to be the 'safest' subject to make films on these days. It can take on various facets and is almost always a hit because of the stereotypes most terrorism themed films have.

Apoorva Lakhia, after directing the successful Shootout at Lokhandwala last year, has now come up with Mission Istaanbul (It's not a typo. The director has used this spelling for Istanbul). Here, the fight against the evil has come out of the Mumbai underworld to an international level with the involvement of Islamic extremists.

Mission Istaanbul has: an Osama look-alike, a Bush look-alike, a television channel that telecasts exclusive footage from the terrorists (it's called Al Johara here, alluding to Al Jazeera perhaps?) and a mysterious 13th floor in the Al Johara building, which has some dark secrets attached to it.

Don't expect a flick about inside stories on the war against terror. Mission Istaanbul's story centres around the war its heroes are fighting against Muslim terrorists. Of course to avoid any religious biases, one of the good guys is a Muslim too. But, as the story unfolds, it becomes way too Bollywood for taste…
As far as the story goes, Vikas (Zayed Khan) is an efficient journalist and is offered a job by Owais (Sunil Shetty) to head the controversial Istanbul based news channel Al Johara. He accepts the offer and there starts a new chapter of his life. He heads off to Afghanistan - where everyone can speak Hindi! Owais is killed in Afghanistan while meeting with Abu Naser's (aka Osama look-alike) men.
 
Following Vikas' return to Istanbul, Turkish commando Rizwan (Vivek Oberoi) mysteriously finds Vikas and tells him that if he decides to quit, he would be killed too. This apparently is the fate of all Al Johara newsmen who decide to quit - and their pictures are then hung up in the 'Wall of Martyrs' at the Al Johara building. It's an exact rip off from the John Grisham novel - turned Tom Cruise starrer film The Firm. With Vivek's entry, Mission Istaanbul picks up its pace and the story travels from India to Turkey and then to Afghanistan.
 
Rizwan also reveals to Vikas that the terrorist leader Abu Naser is dead and the footage they keep watching on TV is actually generated at Al Johara on the 13th floor by Ghazni (Nikitin Dheer) - the owner of the channel. They edit old footage of the dead leader, hire a number of men to act in them and voila - a 'terror message from Abu Naser' is ready to boost up TV ratings. The only way to stop their activities is by getting access to their computers and by retrieving their data for which he needs Vikas' help. They team up for the mission making it a perfect combination of brains and brawns.

The second half centres on Vivek Oberoi who keeps on saving Zayed Khan from the terrorist Khalil (Shabbir Ahluwalia), Ghazni's sidekick. Surprisingly, after a number of chase and run scenes… our non-violent journalist turns into an action hero and guns down the terrorists every time they come for an attack. Not to forget, the film also doubles for a mini Istanbul tour guide movie with exotic shots of the city being thrown in at each angle.

More twists and turns are seen when Lisa (Shweta Bharadwaj), the enemy's ally, turns out to be a RAW agent from India. And just when you think the movie will now run smoothly - you are proven wrong. Vikas' ex-wife Sara (Shreya Saran) flies from India to Istanbul in search of him and in turn is kidnapped by Ghazni. The climax is not very unpredictable, like the rest of the movie, so it's not really wise to spill all the beans here.

The songs of the movie are not inspiring at all. It has a list of music directors to its credit - Anu Malik, Mika, Shamir Tandon and Chirantan Bhatt - but none of the songs were able to create a buzz. The Abhishek Bachchan cameo was an item song, which is a total waste and pops up out of nowhere mid-film. What was Abhishek thinking?
Zayed Khan and Vivek Oberoi are decent in their roles. Vivek is comfortable being a Turkish commando who fears nothing and can destroy a whole terrorist army on his own until… he has to deal with computers. Zayed Khan gives a better performance than in his previous movies such as Cash and Speed. Nikitin Dheer is quite remarkable in his villainous role. This is his second movie after Jodhaa Akbar (in which he played a negative character as well) and he is definitely rather talented. Shabbir Ahluwalia is another actor worth praising. He has covered his journey from small screen to celluloid and proved that's where he actually belongs.

On the whole Mission Istaanbul is a complete action packed movie with decent acting but an average storyline. And those who have watched Shootout at Lokhandwala won't really be satisfied with the director's new venture!

-- Fatima Zakir

*YUCK
**WHATEVER
***GOOD
****SUPER
*****AWESOME