Mission Istaanbul

Derring-do by Indian TV journo cleans up a nest of terrorists! At the headquarters of TV channel Al Johara in Istanbul!! Aided and abetted by a brave Turkish commando!!!

All those exclamation marks spill out of Apoorva Lakhia8217;s latest 8216;Mission Istaanbul8217;, which takes a contemporary, cautionary tale of terror, and its modern-day purveyors, and serves it up lathered with so much leftover masala that it8217;s neither easily gobbled, nor thoughtfully chewed upon.

Take the leading man, for starters. Zayed Khan yes, that8217;s right, plays Vikas Sagar, Aaj Tak reporter, who8217;s so famous in India that everyone knows his worth except his estranged wife-and-colleague at the same channel Shriya. You can take Zayed as a likeable bumbling second lead, but as someone who has to contend with a ruthless Afghan terrorist Shabbir, a scarlet-lipped cleavage-flashing Mata Hari-type, and a gun-toting local avenger Vivek? Surely Apoorva Lakhia was jesting.

While he8217;s at it, we get a muscled TV channel owner who welcomes his Indian guest into his glass-fronted multi-storied lair, first forbidding him to go to the, hold your breath, 13th floor of the building, because it8217;s secret, and then saying8212;ok guys, let8217;s party! The next thing, said reporter and boss are swaying with a curvy Turki belly dancer!! This follows some live action in an Afghani hideaway, where a burqa-clad woman is stoned to death, and American tourists are held to ransom, and men-in-flowing-headgear are mowed down by rattling machine guns!

Lakhia8217;s last, 8216;Shootout At Lokhandwala8217; had enough grit, despite its raunchy item numbers, to be taken seriously. Here, he gets Zayed in a cute hair-cut and Vivek in a shoulder-length shag, to be boys with toys, and most of it is unintentionally hilarious, especially the climax in which Terrorist Top Dog and Enraged Journo batter each other with their fists, shirts off, just like good old Bollywood heroes and villains used to, decades ago.

Also, please note the presence of item boy Abhishek Bachchan shaking his booty with a bunch of underclad women, and this memorable line : Bahut paap kiye hain, download hone mein thoda time to lagega!

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