Omerta Review: Hansal Mehta's documentary drama is a superficial account of Omar Saeed Sheikh's life
Hansal Mehta's Omerta starring Rajkummar Rao is a documentary drama on dreaded terrorist Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh. Omar was accused in the murder of The Wall Street Journal's journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002 and was the mastermind of 26/11 Mumbai attacks, 9/11 attacks on twin tower of World Trade Center in New York, besides other terrorist activities. Omar is currently awaiting the judgement on his plea in Pearl's murder and is lodged in a Pakistan jail.
The movie begins with cries but they remained unexplained. We are introduced to young lad Omar, who has left his degree in London School of Economics to help his fellow Muslim brothers and sisters in Bosnia. The man is on a mission in Delhi where he befriends four foreigners and abducts them to give the world a strong message. We are also introduced to Omar's father who doesn't want to lose his son and doesn't conform to his ideologies. Nothing much is shown about Omar's teenaged phase which was his formative years. A lot of information is available on the public domain which says that Omar was expelled from a Lahore college and was quite an aggressive boy but Hansal Mehta takes a shorter route by just ticking the significant events in Omar's life.
The film keeps on emphasising on Omar's education and we see many characters mouthing dialogues that states why an educated person like Omar is needed for 'Jihad'. Omerta tries to tell us why a well-educated man like Omar found peace in violence, however, it doesn't delve deeper. We get a glimpse of Omar's involvement in Mumbai attacks and World Trade Center attacks. The director didn't feel the need to elaborate it. However, Mehta has kept this movie fast-paced, hence, there isn't any scope left for you to get bored. Real footages and photographs have been used to establish a connect and take the story further.
When there is Rajkummar Rao, you can't question acting skills. Rao is all over the film with no major supporting actors other than the one who played his father. Everytime Rao smiles, it sends chills down your spine. However, Rao can be seen switching accents throughout the film. It seems he was struggling to grab the right British accent.
Most of the dialogues are in English and those in Hindi don't have many Urdu words. Urdu could have added more to the authenticity. Lighting has been played up with quite well. It effectively brings the dark undertone of the movie. Cinematographer Anuj Rakesh should be applauded for portraying bylanes and crowded markets of Paharganj to snow-capped mountains in a beautiful way. There are a couple of low-angle shots of Omar to show his terror. The movie interestingly also has a scene which shows how the live telecast by Indian media in Mumbai attacks was helping Omar and his aides in Pakistan.
Hansal's Shahid and Omerta both have terrorism as their core. In Shahid, Hansal showed what caused his protagonist to chose his path, however, this is not the case with Omerta, which he has also written. Had it been, the result would be different. Three stars only for Rao's acting and Hansal's direction.