Thereby the director sets the film for the audiences; it is an action film!

Cut to, a civil court; the wife, also a journalist, Anjali Sagar (Shriya Saran) wants a divorce; why? Hubby dear can’t spend much time with her. The wife on the other hand was ready to give up her career for domesticity, a tissue for tears; it is a romantic drama!

Cut to, Istanbul; Vikas is introduced to his new job at Al Johra (or was it Zohra or Johana or Yohana; who cares!) by Owais (Sunil Shetty); Vikas is introduced to the hall of fame (journos turned martyrs while trying to serve Al... whatever!); ah... it is a suspense thriller!

Actually, the film is none of the above. It is just a typical Bollywood fare. So what is the problem, you may ask? The problem is, it is not entertaining. I, as audience want entertainment, which is just not there.

On paper the story would go like this: A busy husband doesn’t have time for his wife. The wife wants a divorce. They get it. The husband moves out for his new job. The job, is run by a fishy businessman (over here, Niketan Dheer). The husband finds himself in a soup. However, there is a good fellow (Vivek Oberoi) to help him out.

A regular Bollywood story seen umpteen times; so how do you infuse life into this plot? Do we set it in a hospital; a software company; a corporate; writers work hard; oh we have got to give it a ’Y2K’ feel, fine may be a call centre; well, how about adding a dash of message to it? What message?

About terrorism! The world is talking about it. Great. A film is written - Mission Istanbul.

The film even has a Osama look-alike Abu Nazeer and a Bush look-alike; who jokes about cold turkeys, just like the film.

In this melee; the writers forget to ponder over points like:

Vivek is a Turkish commando; if he suspects Al... whatever of running a terrorist network, why doesn’t he go to Turkish intelligence?

Vivek has killed Abu Nazeer, why doesn’t he tell Turkish authorities about it?

If it was for double-cross, why does he tell about the body, as shown in later reels?

All the while Shriya is shown as trying to reject Zayed’s advances; all of a sudden, how does she have a change of heart?

Suniel  is shown as a seasoned journalist, with an army background; he was a more plausible option and a more convincing character for bursting the network, why wasn’t his character developed further?

The film moots down sensationalism resorted by news-channels of late, but the film itself propagates that Abu Nazeer is dead and Al... whatever is the mastermind behind terrorism. Both, without mincing any words, are modelled on Osama Bin Laden and Al Jazeera.

The film doesn’t belong to director. It actually belongs to action-director and editor and both have done a good job of it. Though, the listless songs ought to be nixed. Abhishek Bachchan in an item number adds star-value, but the song is nowhere near ’One Love’ - Abhishek’s first item number.

Zayed  hasn’t moved beyond his expressions of Main Hoon Naa. Sunil is okay. Niketan and Shabbir fit the baddie roles to the T. Though Shriya Saran is a bigger heroine, débutante Shweta Bhardwaj has a meatier role and makes her presence felt. The surprise package of the film is Vivek Oberoi. Written off, he has bounced back with this film... well sort of.

A mere dozen odd audiences in the auditorium confirmed that the film is for action-buffs; but the point is Angelina Jolie in a DVD of ’Wanted’ makes for much better action, both, on and off-screen.