Mission Istaanbul
Movie
Mission Istaanbul
Director
Apoorva Lakhia
Cast
Zayed Khan, Vivek Oberoi, Shabbir Ahluwalia, Shreya Saran, Sunil Shetty



Sonia Chopra

We're all aware of this kind of film "” lots of maar-dhaad, swaggering heroes impossibly taking on an army of bad guys, hot women, a misleadingly attractive film title that almost leads you on to believe that the film could be hat-ke. But I believe the audience knows better than to fall yet again for smart promos that cunningly offer more to the film.

Vikas Sagar (Zayed Khan, what an improvement), who we learn is "India's number one journalist", is off to Istaanbul to take up a job at the Al Johara channel, that often breaks stories related to terrorism. His wife Anjali (Shriya Saran, ho-hum) sobs at the divorce court, "I am a journalist too but I was ready to give up everything for you. You couldn't even come an hour early to be with me." She then warns her husband against joining an organisation that clearly serves as the "terrorists' mouth-piece". Interestingly, he calls her dumbo, a nick-name she eventually lives up to; how, is for you to find out.

The editor of this channel, Ghazni Hakkan (Nikitin Dheer), himself is a suspect and also suffers a bout of seriously questionable dressing. Once, he's seen wearing a bow-tie in the office. And at other times, he has flowers pinned to his suit that match the colour to his tie. This man, we are to believe, heads this channel that has a curious 13th floor, the access to which demands finger print identification. The channel's office, in a fancy-shmanzy building, also has a disturbing `Hall of Martyrs' that hangs photos of dead journalists who lost their lives breaking terrorism-related stories. Some morale-booster this! ..............More