After a widely acclaimed 'Shoot Out at Lokhandwala', director Apoorva Lakhia is back with 'Mission Istanbul', a story that he claims is very close to reality.

"We have used look alikes in the film so that the audience feels closer to reality. We have tried to be real without being real at all, " Lakhia says.

The director says that there was no conscious effort on his part to make a film dealing with the issue of international terrorism. "I had read an article in the Economist about two years ago on Osama Bin Laden, " he says adding that he had kept a clip of it with him and things led to this idea.

'Mission Istanbul' is the story of Vikas Sagar (Zayed Khan), a journalist, who pursues each of his stories with great zest. Sagar is tempted with an offer from an Istanbul- based television channel, Al Janora, notorious for being the mouthpiece of the world's most feared terrorist, Abu Nazir.

After Sagar accepts the offer ensues a tale of dangers and forbidden truths that make his existence difficult. Enter Rizwan Khan (Vivek Oberoi), a Turkish commando who saves Sagar's life at every dangerous turn.

Khan who is playing the role of a journalist for the first time says, "It is very difficult to play a journalist. Every person, even journalists are normal human beings with emotions."

"The film is about how terrorism has got into the media, how it uses the media to spread propaganda and brainwash people, " he adds.

On how he expects the audience to react to the film, Lakhia says, "God only knows what the audience wants. About 130 films have been released this year of which only 3 have gone on to become hits."

Shriya Saran, popularly known for her role opposite super star Rajnikant in Tamil flick 'Sivaji', plays Anjali, Khan's wife in the film.

Anjali is also a journalist and the film potrays a strained relationship between the couple, one of the reasons for Sagar to accept the offer from Al Janora.

When asked about differences between Bollywood and the film industry down south, Saran says, "We shouldn't create boundaries within the country itself.

It is Indian cinema we are working for. It is an Indian audience that we are catering to." The film has created a lot of buzz with a number of item songs in tow especially with Abhishek Bachchan shaking a leg in one of them.