Bollywood has always been fascinated by terrorism and that’s why you can see so many movies on terrorism getting churned out each year. Mission Istaanbul also deals with the same subject. It begins wonderfully and showcases real inside truth in front of the audiences. But it’s the 2nd half where things begin to go horribly wrong and that’s why the film doesn’t impress fully.
The story of the movie: Vikas Sagar (Zayed Khan) is an Aaj Tak reporter and one of the most promising journalists in India. He is invited by Al Johara, a terrorist mouthpiece, to do a 3 month orientation in Istanbul, Turkey. Owais Hussain (Sunil Shetty), a War Correspondent of Al Johara, meets him there and was the guide for Vikas in Istanbul. The head of Al Johara, Ghazini (Nikitin Dheer) explained to him that their news agency doesn’t glorify or help terrorism; they serve as a link between terrorists and the entire world. But after the death of Owais in Afghanistan and meeting Rizwan (Vivek Oberoi), Vikas realizes that things are not as they seem in Al Johara, and that his live is in grave danger!
For any action-packed thriller, it’s important that it should be a fast-paced one and Mission Istaanbul fulfills this quality perfectly. The movie is not only fast-paced, but it’s also interesting and thoroughly shocking, especially in the 1st half. Things do get a bit boring with two songs in the first hour coming almost back-to-back. But after these songs, the film was a total roller coaster ride till the intermission point! Truly rocking!
But when director Apoorva Lakhia had taken the movie to a great high, midway he decided to take the movie down. The major problem with the 2nd half is that it’s too Bollywoodish and filmy and therefore unrealistic. Everything looked real in the 1st half, but unfortunately not after that. The way both of them (Vivek and Zayed) fought 10-15 villains everywhere and didn’t get even a single scratch is hard to digest! There are lots of films which have shown few heroes fighting hordes of goons and winning it (E.g, Die Hard, Indiana Jones etc). But at least, the scenes in these movies looked bit real. But alas, that’s not the case in Mission Istaanbul.
And certain sequences made the viewers confused. Why did Anjali (Shriya Saran) arrive at Istaanbul and how that would have helped Vikas? And the character of Shweta Bharadwaj was also not properly penned. Why did she go to her own house after betraying the terrorists? Didn’t she know that they would arrive there to kill her?
Zayed Khan was the leading male in the film and does his job quite well. In fact, he looks fabulous in such serious macho roles. Even in Cash, he carried a serious image in most of the scenes and did a great job. Happy to see that Subhash Ghai has signed him for his forthcoming larger-than-life flick, Yuvraaj!
As expected, Vivek Oberoi was simply outstanding! He performed his part easily and confidently and did a great job! After his legendary performance in Shootout At Lokhandwala, this one was surely one of the best performances of his career. But I would love to see him often.
Nikitin Dheer, who played the role of Shariffudin in Jodhaa Akbar, does a great job but has to work out on his looks. His voice and his physique are super-sexy! Shabbir Ahluwalia again does a great job like he did in Shootout At Lokhandwala. But I feel he can do a good job only in negative roles. I don’t think any producer will offer him a role of a romantic hero in any flick.
Sunil Shetty was likeable in his guest appearance. Shriya Saran looks cute and wonderful and performs well too, but she hardly had anything to do in the film. Shweta Bharadwaj’s performance was perfect, but her character was not. Others were good.
The three music directors (Anu Malik, Chirantan Bhatt and Shamir Tandon) came up with some not-so-exciting music. The best song was ‘Jo Gumshuda’. The Abhishek Bachchan song (Nobody Like You) was okay. The tragic track ‘Dildara’ was missing from the film.
Gururaj’s cinematography was topnotch. The lensman brilliantly captured the locales, markets and dingy lanes of Istanbul in all angles. Action sequences were a treat to watch, especially in the 2nd half. Dialogues, especially the one mouthed by Vivek, were terrific. Editing was first-rate.
Suresh Nair and Apoorva Lakhia came up with a fabulous story. Storyline was flawless; it was the screenplay which was the culprit especially in the 2nd half.
Apoorva Lakhia’s direction was as good as it was in Shootout At Lokhandwala. He, in some scenes, has taken inspiration from movies like The Da Vinci Code, Mission Impossible-3, Die Hard 4 (Vivek is shown as a computer illiterate like Bruce Willis). He did a nice job overall, but faltered in the 2nd half. If the 2nd hour would have been a little more real, the film would have worked wonders!
Some of the best scenes of the movie:
1. The first scene
2. Vikas in Afghanistan
3. Vikas meeting Ghazini and Owais for the 1st time
4. Vikas in Afghanistan with Owais (terrific!)
5. Anjali in Srinagar
6. Vikas’ meetings with Rizwan
7. Vikas and Rizwan breaking into Al Johara (unrealistic but action was great)
8. Vikas being chased
9. The climax and the last scene
On the whole, Mission Istaanbul is a timepass, action-packed fast-paced flick. The first half was superb but the 2nd half turns unrealistic, preventing the film from becoming a brilliant film. Watch it if you want to pass your 2 hours of time in the weekend. Or else, leave it.
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