Omerta : Selective Silence

#Omerta : Since childhood till 2014 I have always wondered how educated , well to do  normal beings  get so easily brain washed and turn radical. I have always wanted get to the crux and explore the psyche of those who become fundamentalist and turn into beasts just for a misplaced or misunderstood belief. And then 2014 happened . I got a firsthand experience of so many near and dear ones, both educated and semi educated, bright and dim-witted, rich and poor suddenly turning radical ( at least on social media)  for a misplaced idea fuelled by an ambitious  marketing maverick in the guise of a Political messiah . Suddenly the cool looking , cigarette smoking  friend with a goatee  was arguing about  “my and their” country , the shy and intelligent girl , a dear friend of mine , trying to figure out religion in rape . And somewhere deep within I was discovering a new scary side of so many whom I thought are liberal , progressive and secular ( in post 2014 parlance libtard and sickular !) And hence the anticipation was high for Hansal Mehta’ s “ Omerta” where he depicts the life of dreaded terrorist  Omar Sheikh ,a  London School of Economics drop out who abducted foreign nationals ,  beheaded Daniel Pearl , the man whom India govt  had  to release to secure  the release of hijacked IC 814 passengers .

Mehta uses docu-drama format to tell the story of Omar Sheikh. The narrative is non linear and jump cut technique has been used multiple times to keep the audience interested.  The film is taut and at 93 minutes it moves at an exhilarating pace . Rajkumar Rao sinks his teeth into the character. The ease with he has played characters of different shades in last eighteen months films like Barailly Ki Barfi , Trapped , Newton and now Omerta  tells volumes about the man’s range and capability as an actor . And this portrayal must have been an emotionally drenching one.

However Mehta, who had beautifully explored the inner world of Prof Siras in “Aligarh”   lets go of an exciting opportunity of delving deep into the psyche of one of the most dreaded terrorists of our times.  He follows the character from a distance and never allowing himself to go close to explore further. There was not even a single attempt to understand Omar’s ideology or his intention. And that’s where the film loses steam.

Omerta could have been a brave attempt from a director who is known to take up unconventional subjects. But it ends up being a film that barely scratches beneath the surface. I will go out with 3 out of 5 for “Omerta” and its selective silence! Watch it for that man – Raj Kumar Rao !