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Mission Istanbul : Movie Preview / Slideshow
11th June 2008 22.30 IST

‘Mission Istanbul’ is an action thriller based on the subject of international terrorism. The film tells the story of a journalist who gets his hands on top-secret information on dreaded terrorists.

The movie stars Zayed Khan, Vivek Oberoi, Sunil Shetty, Shabbir Ahluwalia and Shreya Saran in main roles. Abhishek Bachchan makes a special appearance.

Don’t miss the movie’s slideshow (story in pictures) at Mission Istanbul .

Zayed Khan as Vikas Sagar

Vikas Sagar would go anywhere for a scoop, risk his life and limb to get an exclusive story that nobody else can. It’s for this precise reason Vikas is a familiar face watched by six million viewer’s weeknights on TV-24. Ambitious, popular and professional, Vikas is considered one of the most promising journalists in the business.

Sunil Shetty as Owais Husain

Owais Husain is a senior producer at the controversial Istanbul-based Al Johara, widely criticized as the mouthpiece of terrorists or as their network of choice. Owais makes Vikas an offer to head the channel’s proposed Indian bureau for an outrageous salary and other perks.

Shreya Saran as Anjali

Anjali is Vikas’s divorced wife. She is an equally feisty journalist whose desire to have a baby leads to their separation – because her husband wants her to wait a little longer and seems to be in no mood to start a family.

Vivek Oberoi as Rizwan

Rizwan is a former Turkish commando, who knows a great deal about the inner workings of Al Johara channel. He is the man who shows the way to Vikas when the latter finds himself stuck in a deadlock situation.

Synopsis

When Owais Husain offers Vikas to join Al Johara, Vikas almost can’t refuse because of the channel’s controversial profile which ensures that it’s seen by everyone globally, including the White House. It certainly would take Vikas’s career to another level. But little does Vikas know that his life is about to change when he takes the flight to Istanbul on a three-month orientation program at the channel’s headquarters.

While Al Johara is one of the most viewed channels in the world, its reputation has been largely built as the mouthpiece of a dreaded terrorist. Abu Nazir, who is on the most wanted lists of both the Interpol and FBI, is vociferous in his threat to wage war against several countries, including India. A threat he usually delivers via videotapes to Al Johara.

On the flight Vikas finds himself seated next to a stunningly beautiful co-passenger who hates flying. Lisa Lobo is headed for Istanbul to attend a medical convention – or so she claims. In her obvious discomfort, she turns to an amused Vikas for moral support and distraction from the reality of being airborne.

Once in Istanbul, Vikas’s initial impression of AL JOHARA is in sharp contrast to its notorious reputation. There is only one word of caution to Vikas and that’s never ever to venture onto the 13th floor known as the Catacomb. As part of his orientation, Vikas gets hands-on experience in the AL JOHARA newsroom where he watches ghastly and exclusive news reports of terrorism.

He learns more about Abu Nazir, who is described as “a one-man organization whose existence revolves around a single person.” Vikas is told that it is extremely difficult to find out any details about Nazir’s private life and his habits because such information would help the secret services who are looking for him.

Reeling under the impact of the reality bytes at work, Vikas’s only relief is his flirtatious encounters with Lisa and the lively company of soldier-turned-journalist Owais Husain who is looking forward to quitting his job and settling down with his Irish girlfriend.

But on an assignment to cover kidnapped journalists in one of Abu Nazir’s terrorist camps in Afghanistan, Vikas is shocked when Abu Nazir’s brother, Khalil, brutally executes Owais Hussain just before a UN peacekeeping force mounts a rescue operation.

Reeling at this close encounter with terrorism and watching a brutal killing, Vikas returns to Istanbul in a daze and is approached by a former Turkish commando, Rizwan Khan, who hints that no senior employee has ever quit Al Johara without being killed. Rizwan tells Vikas a list of names who have met the same fate as Owais.

Vikas is quickly reminded of Owais Husain expressing the same to him. Rizwan poses a few more questions about Al Johara – like why Abu Nazir speaks only to Al Johara – and leaves quietly.

Vikas discreetly runs a check on the names rattled off by Rizwan and discovers he was indeed telling the truth. Five Al Johara staffers before Owais Husain had either died in a car bomb explosion, abducted and killed or simply found dead. It sends a chill through Vikas’s spine.

Vikas slowly notices that not everything is as simple as it looks in the offices of Al Johara, especially when he seems to bump into strangers whose faces he soon recognizes as suicide bombers in a couple of terrorist attacks. The deeper Vikas digs into Al Johara history and operations, the more questions crop up in his mind. And then he makes the cardinal mistake of straying onto the 13th floor.

Vikas is tortured for straying onto the 13th floor, double crossed by Lisa and watches wife Anjali narrowly surviving a suicide bomb attack in Srinagar.

Vikas has no choice but to ally with Rizwan after he makes a shocking revelation that Abu Nazir is dead but being kept alive by Al Johara through videotapes by using digital images of the terrorist and doctoring old footage.

Thereafter Vikas Sagar steals the secrets locked away on Al Johara’s 13th floor and becomes a man on the run – wanted by Turkish cops, terrorists, the CIA and Lisa Lobo! From wielding a mike before a television camera, he is forced to wield a gun and join Rizwan in a bloody mission against international terrorism.

‘Mission Istanbul’ is directed by Apoorva Lakhia . The film has story by Suresh Nair and is produced jointly by Sunil Shetty, Shabbir Boxwala, Shobhaa Kapoor and Ekta Kapoor.

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Mission Istanbul
Zayed Khan
Sunil Shetty
Shreya Saran
Vivek Oberoi
Apoorva Lakhia