Omerta marks the return of the actor-director team of Rajkummar Rao and Hansal Mehta, who have worked together in films like Aligarh, CityLights and Shahid. Rajkummar, sports a bespectacled and heavily bearded look in the film and the trailer threatens to expose the dark reality of a dangerous world. The story of Omerta revolves around state-sponsored terrorism and how it manipulates young minds into believing a sordid interpretation of jihad.
Based on the real-life story of British terrorist of Pakistani descent Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, this Hansal Mehta directorial looks like a spine-chilling exploration of the makings of a terrorist.
The trailer opens with some random shots of a brooding Rao and a voiceover warning him to control his emotions. Next Rajkummar is seen in action, being secretive and making phone calls, working to make himself physically fit and living under an assumed identity of Rohit Verma, a typical Hindu name.
There comes a point in the latter part of the video when someone asks Rajkummar, “Who are you?” and owning the screen, he retorts, “I am the saviour.” Like all his other roles, looks like Rajkummar has put his heart and soul into this one too. The National Award winning actor plays an anti-hero for the first time.
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Mehta said at the trailer launch said: “Omerta takes a look at this complex paradox of a man called Omar Saeed Sheikh. It was a difficult subject to choose and a challenge to make. The film looks at what it means to be a fundamentalist and for someone to pick up a gun with the intent of killing in return for an afterlife in paradise. Omerta is among the most researched films that I have worked on till date. We actually visited some of the places frequented by Omar in London during his transformation from a LSE graduate to becoming a deadly terrorist.”
The film is shot in real locations across London and India while recreating Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Omerta is set to hit the screens on April 20.
Here’s the trailer: