Mission Istaanbul: Darr Ke Aagey Jeet Hai! (2008)

2/10

A stylish branded Mannequin with no soul.

bobbysing6 August 2008

In recent times we have seen many movies with "A Great Look", "Lavish Stunts" and giving good vibes before the release. And when we see the movie, it seems to be having no soul with only a good body with branded clothes. Its like a Mannequin, stylishly dressed, standing in the show-window but having no soul, no life in it.

That's how we should describe Mission Istaanbul. Few months back, same was the case with "CASH" & "TASHAN". Director Apporva Lakhia has made films which are always good in parts and are shot brilliantly, but they lack in the scripting department.

In MI also there are only stunts shot lavishly and too many action sequences without any base in the script. The movie revolves around a very thin plot line of a News Agency / Channel which is also the headquarters of the Terrorists activities. And one hero goes out to set them straight with the help of another.

The entire star cast acts as they are featuring in a great action trend setter movie, but i bet they themselves must have guessed after the preview that it was all going to be a disaster.

There is simply nothing to talk about or discuss as a reviewer. The film lacks in most of its departments from scripting stage to the acting. Its just a time pass action flick and that too for the smaller centers. At times these kind of movies make you think that how much resources, efforts and hard work goes in vain when the makers come up with such final products having excellent body but with no life in it.

Its time our filmmakers should move ahead and stop wasting resources on mindless action flicks. Mission Istaanbul is a disappointment for the viewers as it had good promos but no content in the final product.

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3/10

What Crap!!

yonkers2031 July 2008

Having seen Apoorva's earlier film "Shootout..." knew there would be lot of guns.

But this movie has only guns and explosion. The entire movie is like a walk in the park for the characters.There is no story..no character building.

World's most wanted terrorists walk in and out of Al Johra building(someone forgot to mention the underground rail network to ferry them in and out) A terrorist is in Istanbul and in the next scene in Srinagar(someone forgot to tell me about the star-gate) After a heavy chase with bullets flying all over, 20 of the bad guys come with chains, sticks and whatever they can lay their hands on (someone forgot to tell me about the bad guys running out of bullets) The best they could do was some sort of a charcoal painting of the 3 guys when they are on the run. haven't you heard of colour prints.

Why doesn't any of the characters have a 3 digit IQ.(of course journalism doesn't require any. Watch aaj tak and you will know) The movies I thought of while watching this, matrix, resident evil, district 13, one of the Jackie Chan movies, Equilibrium.

I liked the soundtrack and the background score. Of course it reminded me of resident evil. The movie could have been a lot better if they had someone to rework on the script.

The movie do have one or 2 laughs. the action is nothing new. None of the songs are good.

Worth a one time watch.......NOPE....

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4/10

Stupid action movie, but with funny moments

ijzeren_jan14 August 2009

Warning: Spoilers

For a stupid action movie, Mission Istaanbul is not thát bad.

At first, it appears the movie is going to be about the horrors of terrorism, with images about Al-Qaeda, heads cut off and all that, but those who dislike pointless cruelty can rest assured: terrorism is merely the excuse for a lot of action, and especially, for the heroes of the movie to venture into the lion's den. The entire storyline is weak and its credibility is far below zero. Obviously, the film makers haven't wasted much time and effort on doing even a minimum amount of research: they might, for example, easily have found out that "Rizwan Khan" is not exactly a typically Turkish name (not even for a Turkish freedom fighter!), and that "Al Johara" is not a likely name for a Turkish broadcasting station either. Indeed, Istanbul is an odd choice for the place of action, and the capital of any Arabic-speaking country would have been more suitable. But then, does it really matter? Action movies of this type rarely try to be clever, and this one doesn't even pretend to be.

In any case, I felt pleasantly surprised when after lots of shooting and stone throwing, we are treated with some nice intrigue, too. More or less at the same time, the mysterious character of Rizwan Khan enters the scene, and Vikas' employer turns to be more than just an independent TV station. Once we find out that Al Johara is nothing but a nest of terrorists, and that Rizwan Khan is their worst enemy, the movie is mainly about the way Vikas and his new friend beat the bad guys.

Rizwan is undoubtedly what makes this movie worth watching in spite of all the rest. Mr. Cool to the Xth power. Whatever difficult situation he finds himself in, he always treats it lightly, with humour, turning everything into a joke. Memorable are the following two scenes (quoting from the top of my head):

(Rizwan cuts off an arm from one of Al Johara's employees in order to use it for fingerprint identification. The poor fellow makes a lot of noise when it happens. After that, Rizwan joins Vikas)

Vikas (terrified): "And what if this is the wrong arm?"

Rizwan (hesitates for a moment): "Hey, there you have a point."

(Rizwan goes back, and again we hear the same noise)

Then, a bit later on, Vikas and Rizwan find themselves closed in a departed building. About the entire army and police in the city are looking for them, clearly with the instruction to shoot on sight. Vikas is terrified, Rizwan comfortably watching TV. When their "wanted" description is broadcast live on TV, Rizwan to Vikas:

"Hey, look, they're talking about us! Mmm, want some crisps?"

With all his humour and optimism, Rizwan, excellently performed by Vivek Oberoi, is the biggest advantage in a movie that is otherwise fairly dark and violent. As for the other main protagonist, Vikas: well, Zayed Khan is not a great actor and in all probably is never going to be one. Is it because he reminds me of Tom Cruise? I don't know, but he has a way of always working on my nerves. But it should be said: in "Mission Istaanbul" he does a fairly decent job - not a particular demanding or complicated role, I should add, but decent nonetheless. For the rest, the movie offers a lot of naked male chests in Rambo style. Lots of girls seem to find this, and this particular appearance of Vivek Oberoi, particularly sexy.

As for the music, the title song is sort of funny (one of my parakeet's all-time favourites!). For the rest I find it uninteresting, irritating and needlessly noisy. Besides, it almost never stops pounding, so you'll never get a chance to relax from it even for a moment. But at least it fits the movie. What I really don't understand, however, is Abishek Bachchan's special appearance, which has completely nothing to do with the movie at all and exists there merely as a comma. They might have tried to make it fit somehow, or added it to the very beginning or end of the movie, at least.

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1/10

Director has no clue about Turkey or Istanbul

umutman1 August 2008

this movie is just waste of time.i am living in Istanbul for 30 years and i never heard a name like "Rizwan" (in the movie,that Turkish commando called Rizwan)...and we don't have "khan" added to our names since 800 years.i don't know what s the origin of name Rizwan,but absolutely not Turkish.if you are making a movie,you must have some knowledge about what you are doing.You must show some respect to your work and add some more effort to make it better.at least person names have to fit to country.in the movie title "Istanbul" called as "Istaanbul".even it s not correct,i can say "it s OK.i m sure he has a reason to name movie like that.i believe he knows correctly what the name of city." but when i watch movie i really doubt that he even knows the city name...starting with names,unfortunately nothing fits to Turkey or Istanbul.everything in movie is just imaginary but nothing else.

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1/10

I can't believe I just spent 60 on it!

jaskunwar99327 July 2008

OK - for those who hate reading, a one word description for this "movie" will be AWFUL!

And for those who want to know why... read on.

Let's praise it first - Vivek Oberai gave a bearable performance. Sadly, there's nothing else! Zayed Khan has just forgotten acting. The choreography and the soundtrack is disgusting - and trust me, that's the right word. The stunts are worse than even Tashan. The storyline is totally balderdash. The twists are horrible. Serious action scenes look more like a comedy.

Honestly speaking, I could have rather re-sat through Tashan or Kismat Konnection than spend Rs 60 on this piece of Indian Cinema.

No wonder it's premiere is being held in Dehradun... in a garden!

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1/10

What the hell just happened?

oradimis1031 July 2008

It's almost perplexing to comprehend how awful this movie is. With such a wealthy budget/producers, you would want to know who deserves such a lack of credibility. It has definitely become one of those "Oh wow this movie is so bad, its good". The movie is simply that awful that you will be forced to laugh at the random and obscure scenes. The action scenes are so cynical, you just might feel so much better calling it some sort of spoof movie. My cheeks and jawbone never hurt so much from laughter in quite some time. It isn't really the actors fault for looking even worse at doing what they do. The scriptwriters were a joke, I felt like kidnapped a couple Indian soap opera show script writers from Zee TV and used them to write their script. Vivek Oberoi probably had the best role in the film, hands down. The other actors were simply a joke.

All in all, a must see for a good time!(Read everything)

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4/10

Mission Failed

springsunnywinter25 July 2008

The story revolves around a talented Indian journalist who lands up in Turkey and a commando on the trail of terrorists. Set predominantly in Istanbul at rubbish locations and it's really hard to tell that it is set in another place other than India. The screenplay is bad and it is about 2 hours and it felt like a 3 hour movie but the last 15 minutes saved the whole film. The casting may not have the top actors in the lead roles but they all acted quite well and it has to be Zayed Khan's best role to date, if he works hard then he can do a good job. He acted well after the bad performance in the garbage movies Cash & Speed. Vivek Oberoi has a very different look e.g. long hair and a darker tone which did suit his character. The film is directed by Apoorva Lakhia who also made Ek Ajnabee & Shootout at Lokhandwala, both of them were good but Mission Istanbul could have been better in so many ways. The soundtrack has different kind of songs for everyone. The best songs are Jo Gumshuda which is very romantic and Mission Mission which rocks. It is the first Bollywood film shot in Turkey but it could have been shot in different and better locations instead of the same place over and over again.

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1/10

Mission is-one-bhoool !!!!!!!!!!

pushpargha25 August 2008

Oh my God!!!!!.....Oh dear.... I think Vivek should get married and settle down in life, sunil shetty should start operating his own business and Zayed should go to Hrithik Roshan for advice. To sum it up, all three of them should stop making themselves available to directors as this one.Mission Istanbul!!!! On first place, why make a movie on this name and on such a story. Suniel Shetty should retire because his performances are becoming incorrigible and with the Hollywood wanna be script like this one the movie goes for a toss and the characters portrayed are worse than the actors.What a nonsensical storyline and set of characters. a movie with an intention of a Hollywood twist but ending up nowhere in between Hollywood and Indian b-grade movie. The whole crew hired are professionals and nothing to do with that, they have to do their work for a living but surely 3 people to be blamed have to be the director, the scriptwriter and the producer.Please don't go for any more missions or else you'll end up spoiling the actors' careers.

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4/10

Good Start, Bad finish

toxic6926 July 2008

Schedule being completely packed, i finally got Saturday afternoon off and decided to go and see TDK. As soon as i reached the cinema hall, i was told by my friend that TDK was completely sold out so instead he got the tickets of mission istaanbul. I went in half hearted and as the movie went on i started enjoying it a little. The start was good which made the movie fun for a bit. Vivek's role in the first half of the movie was pretty good as they showed him some mystery man kinda character. They were able to build some suspense at the start, but they dropped the ball in the middle only when the movie turned out to be predictable. Fun was lost before the interval. I think they had rushed in a few scenes which wasn't quiet necessary. I wont spoil anything for you if you wanna really see this movie. End was like a typical Hindi movie which was pretty boring and we all have seen ends like these 1000s of times. Overall acting was average, nothing special. Just an extra ordinary movie. Anyways i am sure, by promos only not many of you may develop high hopes for the movie. Overall i would say start was good, but it went boring after a bit. If you like Hindi action movies and like to see single man taking on 100s of enemies then stop reading this review and go watch the movie.

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1/10

worst movie ever....

tazz9426 July 2008

don't bother wasting your time or money seeing this. the acting is bad, the dialogue is awful. most of the scenes don't make sense - the good guys can see the bad guys 5 feet away but not vice versa. haven't been this bored in a movie for a while. the movie starts off in one direction and then doesn't follow that thought through. although vivek does look good so there is at least one redeeming feature. there is a random song in the middle - if you see it you'll know which one i mean - although i advise staying away - which doesn't fit with the style or theme of the movie and in no way makes sense in the storyline. the only other thing that makes this movie slightly bearable is the scenery. bad bad bad

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9/10

Compared to Shootout at Lokhandwala This movie lacks Romance and Comedy

jayeshyanishrambarassah6 October 2023

Warning: Spoilers

In contrast to the Lokhandwala Shootout Romance and humor are absent from this film. However, this film is still enjoyable and packed with action. I still like this movie 15 years later. It would be considerably more enjoyable if MR Lakhia actors like Rohit Roy and Tushar Kapoor were brought back. As a Vivek OBEROI fan i did not apreciate him in this movie with such long hair. The end was very boaring though.. 1 great thing also was that unlike any other movies music does not appear every 5-10 minutes. The movie moves along at a good clip and is thrilling with lots of action. It also examines some difficult issues including the clash between idealism and practicality and the media's role in terrorism.

The performances of Mission Istanbul are among its strongest features. As the idealistic yet imperfect Vikas Sagar, Zayed Khan does a fantastic job. As the strong yet kind soldier Armaan Khan, Vivek Oberoi is also excellent. Shriya Saran, Suniel Shetty, and Anil Kapoor give standout performances in the supporting cast, which is also outstanding.

The action scenes in the movie are also intense and well-choreographed. They are not, however, extravagant or implausible, as is frequently the case in Bollywood movies. Instead, the action is employed to further the narrative.

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1/10

Why this movie was made????

sauravjoshi8524 December 2018

Warning: Spoilers

What a worst movie ever seen. A person who shows that he is sad because of his divorce can be seen dancing and flirting with girls. An open arms market means seriously guys. Acting is senseless and talent like Vivek Oberoi is wasted. This type of movies are result of making a movie without research. Avoid the movie if you can.

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1/10

mission bool

silvan-desouza3 January 2010

What you call such a film???

Just because SOAL worked doesn't mean you make another crap and think people will lap it up

The film is a joke of a film

It has an okay plot but the handling is bad the film becomes filmy towards the 2nd half with people running around after our heroes who fight with everyone

The film has Zayed playing a journalist with very expensive clothes and Vivek's character had to be intense and serious but to make him mass appealing he is made to laugh and smile at wrong places and lots of close up and slow motion shots

Direction is awful Music is awful

Zayed is okay in his part but he overdoes in parts Vivek too irritates with his grinning and smiling Nikitin Dheer is adequate Shabbir is okay the girls are okay

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Mission Accomplished - Superb Action, Superb Entertainment

sreearihant2 August 2008

It seems most of the reviewers have just seen the review of this film and have written their comments.

Mission Istaanbul - superb action. This is a movie where the makers have been fearless enough to show terrorism in its true colours - a business run for money and power. Ideology is just an excuse to hide something very ugly.

The scenes of stoning a woman as a sport in Afghanistan are chilling. We have heard about it, but nothing like this has been attempted on Indian screens before.

The makers of the film should be lauded for making a superb entertainer and actioner.

Both Vivek Oberoi and Zayed are great in their roles. It does seem that you are watching a Hollywood actioner.

Watch the film and decide for yourself.

I had a lot o expectations from the film after SHOOTOUT IN LOKHANDWALA. The makers have delivered.

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3/10

Worst Movie Ever!!!

liyakhatalikhan28 July 2008

Warning: Spoilers

This movie was interesting at the start but later started to bore.. There are many scenes where its worthless in the movie..I guess there are many good locations which can be shown in the film but the director always choose to show that big mosque in Istanbul..

The concept of showing Bush in the movie is really worthless.. Its no way comedy but i feel it like unnecessary bullshit. There are few characters in the movie which are not at all needed. I don't know why even after getting the data.. Our heros of the movie are still roaming in the city.. and I feel Abhishek's song is not at all needed for the movie.!!!

Vivek Oberio was too cool in the movie.. and zahed was good too.. Shreya's acting was too good and she is hot in the movie..

Overall i give it 3..

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3/10

Utter crap!

Vishboy7 August 2008

After "Shootout At Lokhandwala", I was expecting another decent outing from the director Apoorva Lakia. Also, that the movie was shot in Istaanbul made me eager as I hadn't seen any other Indian movie that I can recall which had been shot so extensively in Turkey.

But like it often happens I was disappointed for judging a book (in this case movie) by its cover. A movie on a serious issue like terrorism cannot, just cannot start off with 2 songs in the first 15-20 minutes. That for me killed it. Then some stunts that looked more like an advertisement for a Cola company, made you wonder if actors like Zayed have any future in Bollywood. Even Viveik was way over the top. Shriya Saran has been wasted. The only saving grace is the bad guy-Niketan Dheer. He has to be the smartest villain ever seen in an Indian movie.I was actually rooting for the bad guy!!! Avoid this movie about an Indian Journalist (played by Zayed) getting a job in a Turkish news channel (al-Johara) which is a direct mouthpiece or world's most wanted terrorists. And then how Zayed gets entangled in a web of lies and conspiracies.

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2/10

Mission Rubbish !

akshay-ak-kumar4 October 2013

The one word that came in my mind after sitting through half of the film is 'Rubbish'. Seriously what was the directors and actors smoking when they were doing this piece of rubbish.

This movie is good example of a bad writing, bad direction and bad acting. Even the action set pieces are disappointing. There are so many loopholes in the movie that one will stop counting them. For e.g. How does Vivek Oberoi speak fluent Hindi when he is actually a Turkish army officer ?? Or how does Zayed Khan who is a journalist fight dreaded criminals single handily ??

The performances are so wooden that you'll think you are in some furniture shop starting with Niktin Dheer, Suniel Shetty, Shwetha Bharadwaj and above all Zayed Khan. Only Oberoi redeems himself to an extent. Even the beautiful Shriya Saran can't redeem this bad film.

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1/10

I could not watch beyond 15 minutes

bogomips-019 April 2012

This should be nominated in the list of best films ever made in the history of mankind. Second generation of Indian Cinema Actor at it's best. They must have paid $5 to the writer of this movie who had no idea about the shooting locations. The fictional screenplay is based on complete inaccurate places, culture and people. OK, giving him liberty of fiction to write anything he likes - what about the am-mature direction and editing. The protagonist has to go checkout nightlife in Istanbul and without doubt he dances and sings a patriotic song. Just like Manoj Kumar in older days.

I had to close my window the moment Vivek Oberai showed up in the scene. Right, the abandoned son of supporting actor in 1980s. He certainly deserves to be an extra in the films. Zayad Khan (son of Sanjay Khan? another wannabe actor of 80s) who is also mistaken as Bollywood's answer to Tom Cruise. I must appreciate his consistent expression through out the 15 minutes.

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1/10

Mission made audiences INSTA-FOOL

ankit-singh9216 November 2021

I am sure Vivek Oberoi had time travelled to the future to make this movie and stayed till it's premier. What he forgot was not recording the death threats and abuses he received post this movie, took it back to 2003-04 and mistook it to be Salman's and alas the press conference. The kind of journalism in the movie is such, even people anti of NDTV will call it sensible and vice versa in regards to Republic TV. Hopefully, Zayed Khan wouldn't try playing a nuclear scientist in his next. Else, it'll indeed bring apocalypse, doomsday blah blah. The villains seemed as if they had just walked out of a mental asylum rather than acting school, or was it the prospect of them getting beaten by Zayed and Vivek despite being more intimidating which drove them to depression ? Who knows.

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9/10

An original story

arundathi8 October 2008

This is one mind blowing movie. This is original, fast-paced, more realistic and different. The actors are perfect for these roles. Zayed Khan has shown true potential as an actor. He knows when to flex his muscles and when to be an ordinary man. Vivek Oberoi is really great. He plays a patriot but is in control of the situation. Shriya Saran is decent. She did not get a lot of screen time yet her presence was illuminating. She proves that there is no need for a lot of screen to make a presence notable. The fighting scenes are not overdone or exaggerate like most movies. But, there are are some which are a bit gruesome. The story line is authentic and there is no "obvious" borrowing from any other movies. Overall, this movie is a must-watch. There are fresh twists that keep you watching.

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10/10

Watch it

aroop_d28 July 2008

this film is everything that "Tashan" tried so hard to be and failed miserably..its a brainless, fast paced roller coaster ride..which starts from the word go and doesn't looses steam till the last reel..characters are caricatures, dialogs are pedestrian..but when you see Zayed khan in the cast, i don't think you can assume anything thats well acted and thought provoking..The film is fun as it doesn't pretends to be anything intelligent..the action raises the bar by a couple of notch for Indian cinema..

A must watch for anyone who wanted to like Tashan but did not..

I will take away one point for the blatant mountain dew product placement right in a middle of action sequence, and Abhisheks Bachchans song which was so uncalled for..rest is hard core fun

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9/10

Good - Mission Complete

Pratik11229 July 2008

The title has given some information away, but never the less, this is an unusual movie, which has got suspense, thriller and action from Balaji Motion Pictures, which is a part of Balaji Telefilms and Popcorn Entertainment.

A promising journalist, who is going through a rough patch with his marriage, takes on a position to head a controversial TV station which broadcasts news only but most of which is terrorist related. But then events take a turn when one of the journalists is killed when they go to interview a leader of a terrorist gang in Instaanbul.

Starring Zayed Khan, Vivek Oberoi, Shabbir Ahluwalia (Milind of Balaji Telefims's daily serial "Kayamat"), Shweta Bhardwaj and Nikitin Dheer. Introducing Shriya Saran. Special Appearances by Sunil Shetty and Abhishek Bachchan. Produced By Shabbir Boxwala, Ekta Kapoor, Shobha Kapoor and Sunil Shetty. Directed By Apoorva Lakha.

There is definitely a lot of action in this movie but which is sometimes bloody as it deals with the topic of terrorism appropriate today considering the amount of bombs that have recently exploded in the Indian state of Gujarat and many others that have been found in the state. But terrorism is not in just one part of the world it is worldwide. To an extent, Apoorva Lakha has gone on to highlight the dangers which many of the journalists face when covering story which involves terrorism.

Zayed Khan has performed well in this movie and so has Vivek Oberoi. This is a second movie that Apoorva Lakha has directed for Balaji the first being "Shootout At Lokhandwala" and once again he has shown his skills as a director.

Conclusion: Worth watching but be warned it does contain violence, which may not be suitable for children.

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Painfully inept film with bad acting and lousy stunts. Avoid

long-ford19 February 2009

Did Apoorva Lakhia who directed the reasonable 'Shootout at Lokhandwala' really direct this turkey? It's shocking to see a film where almost nothing works. The concept was good - use current world events to make a thriller on international terrorism. Alas, the execution is terrible. The fight scenes are ludicrous (did anyone even try?) and the acting mostly abysmal. Vivek Oberoi maintains a perpetual smirk on his face. It seems all the money was wasted on boring item-numbers. It feels like and is a complete waste of time. A film to be shunned and forgotten.

Overall 1/10

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