Mission Istanbul is directed by Apoorva Lakhia is film based on terrorism. In this film he has shown an Osama bin laden duplicate, bunkers in Afganistan and news channel. Lakhia seems to have incorporated snippets and vignettes from real-life to celluloid in an effort to make the goings-on relatable and believable.
It so happens that Vikas Sagar (Zayed Khan) is a talented TV journalist, he has the scoops and he even interviews terrorists in their den. Owais [Suniel Shetty], who heads a controversial Istanbul-based news channel Al Johara, makes him an offer to head the channel. This offer comes at a time when Vikas is undergoing a divorce with his wife Anjali [Shriya Saran].
But little does Vikas know that the decision will change his life forever. Owais is killed. Rizwan (Vivek Oberoi) is a Turkish Commando who has lost his wife and daughter in a bomb blast and he wants to rid the country of terrorists. He follows Zayed and then lets him know that Al Johaara is nothing but a front for terrorist activities; that the channel is run by terrorists themselves. And they now want to set up office in India. He tells Vikas that if he decides to quit, he would be bumped off as well.
Then begins the battle to wipe off their data, download it on a pen drive (I don't know what capacity it had) because I'm sure the data on the server will be too huge to be downloaded on a pen drive, release a virus and then kill them (terrorists) off one by one. Any journalist wanting to leave the channel is bumped off and his image hung in the 'Hall Of Martyrs' by the head honcho Ghazni (Nikitin Dheer) who explains that they died on duty!
There is also a Scorpio in Istanbul, which is used by Zayed and Vivek in chases and to bang off other vehicles on the road, but surprisingly, there is not a scratch on the vehicle. So, will a journalist survive or will he fall prey like many others?
On the acting front, Zayed Khan is such a waste. He is so not convincing as the journo and neither can he deliver his lines well. The sequences that require him to get emotional sees him getting into the Shahrukh Khan mould.
Vivek Oberoi is good but gets repetitive. He carries those elements of Bhaigiri throughout and eventually the lacuna in the script makes him sound boring. Shweta Bharadwaj does nothing more than run around trying to be Lara Croft. Shriya Saran has no scope at all and from no angle gets close to being a journo.
Suniel Shetty is as usual. Nikitin Dheer is effective, this boy's going from strength to strength. Shabbir Ahluwalia is another talent that needs to be tapped by film-makers. He's very good!
On the whole Mission Istanbul is nothing more than an action film. The film sums up to being a dull fare and much below Lakhia's standards.
