Who will tell the king that he is naked? Remember the story of the fool king who walk naked in public and a small boy shouted that the king is naked?
The colonial rule and the cold war are over. The world witnesses a different fight in recent decades, war against terrorism. Killing innocents in the name of terrorism becomes common, so is using religion to spread its roots. It gets planted where people are illiterate and have to meet poverty every day. A loaf of bread even can work as a good temptation for these people. Even when the act of terrorism can be seen in reports everywhere many believed that this is a rehearsed drama by somebody. Governments and people, they all know that who pay the extremists and terrorists. Still states pretend that they don’t know anything and follow the instructions of the naked king, pleasing him. Government after government gets turned down using force, democracy, money, threat and temptations. Without a media support this international conspiracy cannot be executed. So the network first controlled and restricted all the existing media and brought one new channel altogether to bring exclusive news generated by them. To win the public support they first air programs which allege the network. The network kills the reporters to deep root the belief the channel and network are enemies. In fact they are targeting people who don’t obey their orders or want to leave.
The world was talking this way for quite some time. Every corner people discuss this but nobody tells that in public.
In Mission Istanbul, Apoorva Lakhia takes the courage and shouts loud that the king is naked!
The first half of the film is simply superb and I will say it deserves the 10/10 or even more if we can give. The makers were bold and tell some hard facts. To give a sample, a TV reporter asks a terrorist what is his heaven which he told he will go even if he die in this fight. The reply is that heaven is a place where we will get biriyani every day. After showing us the cruel face of terrorism, the director transports us to the network which plans all these drama.
The story is presented in a believable manner throughout the first half. Excellent is one word I can say for the entire first half.
In the second half however the film comes down to the bollywood standards to give a normal film with a good number of flows. The first half and second half is just like a positive and negative side of a film. The first half was entirely based on reality and presented in excellent way where in the second half things turn more filmy in nature. Frankly speaking the Vivek Oberoi’s character (Rizwan Khan) is not penned well. The background is interesting but his superhuman nature is not explained nor his source of support.
The movie is filled with action and Vivek Oberoi excels in it. Vivek Oberoi’s performance was let down by the writers, otherwise he looks cool and act confidently and in style. Zayed Khan looks cool and gives his best. At the same time his best was not good enough to carry a film of this magnitude. Even Sunil Shetty in his role would have been a better choice. Sunil Shetty was limited to a small role but I wish he was there for more. Shreya Saran is wasted in an immature role with a sleepy performance. Shweta Bardwai was good in her look just fitting the role but in action scenes she was acting like a computer game heroine. Nikitin Dheer impress again! Hats off to this gentleman. Great look and powerful acting. Superb! Whoever imitated George Bush done a wonderful job; much better than Kamal’s Avatar. Still wondering what was Abhishekh Bachchan doing in that special appearance.
Music is ok, Choreography is good. Action scenes need special mention. Very good!
Cinematography is excellent. It is dark in many places, but well suites the situation. Whenever the camera goes out to capture landscapes it is a treat.
Mission Istanbul makers need special applauds for their will and courage to throw some light to the hidden but half known facts and excellent execution of the first half. It is a very good watch for action film lovers.
My rating: 3.5 stars (2.5/2.5 to the first half)