Mission Istanbul is a 2008 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film starring Vivek Oberoi, Shriya Saran and Zayed Khan. The film, directed by Apoorva Lakhia, features Abhishek Bachchan in a special appearance. The film is based on an organisation Al Johara which bears a resemblance to Qatar-based news channel Al Jazeera, which was criticized by the White House as being an outlet for terrorists. The film deals with the role of Al Johara based in Turkey, a NATO country with troops engaged in Afghanistan, and the role of the Indian Intelligence agency R.A.W. Plot The story is based on the life of India's top news reporter Vikas Sagar (Zayed Khan). He would do anything for his news report, even risk his life. Ambitious, popular, and professional, Vikas is considered one of the most promising journalists in the business. Due to this reason, Owais Hussain (Suniel Shetty), a senior producer at the controversial news channel Al Johara, offers him a job as the head of the channel's India bureau. Vikas is going through a divorce with his wife Anjali (Shriya Saran), and getting his mind off things, Vikas accepts the offer and flies to Istanbul to start work for Al Johara. Vikas then meets Dr. Lisa Lobo (Shweta Bhardwaj), at a party, Lisa who is headed to Istanbul to attend a medical convention, it is later revealed that Lisa is a R.A.W. agent looking forward to recruiting Vikas. Once in Istanbul, Vikas meets with the head of Al Johara, Ghazni (Nikitin Dheer), who has business interests all over the world but whose obsession these days is Al Johara as an instrument to shape world events. There is only one word of caution to Vikas, and that's never ever to venture onto the 13th floor known as the Catacomb. He once again meets Owais, who tells him that he is looking forward to quitting his job and settling down with his Irish girlfriend. Ghazni sends Vikas and Owais on an assignment to cover kidnapped journalists in one of terrorist Abu Nazir's terrorist-camps in Afghanistan. The two meet Abu Nazir's brother, Khalil (Shabbir Ahluwalia), who tries to scare Vikas by killing one of the kidnapped journalists and is later revealed to be Ghazni's right hand. Vikas, shocked, takes action and fights Khalil's thugs. Khalil then shoots Owais multiple times leading to his death. Vikas jumps on a helicopter and rides away, seeing Owais get