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OMERTA - Evil in all its glory

PUBLISHED DATE : 07/May/2018

OMERTA - Evil in all its glory

OMERTA - Evil in all its glory

Suhansid Srikanth

The interesting aspect about Hansal Mehta's Omerta is it traces how something monstrously evil spreads out in its own point of view. The film is almost a documentation of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh.. a then terror, who had his own reasons behind why he chose what he chose.

There is a funny sequence when Omar argues with his fellow jailmate on how he can skip fasting without being ashamed. We see him shouting at everyone out there for being a Muslim and forgetting what it is to be one. And we see someone sitting opposite to him sitting stunned well. Omar stops, looks at him and asks his name. He replies, 'Krishna'. "Then why did you stop? Eat!", he says. That's Omar.
 
He ensures his family, his father, his pals that he is getting nothing but respect and pride for his work. He enquires his lawyer who lends him a hand for bail, 'Are you happy living as a Muslim in this country?'. And we see him replying with a sighed tone, 'Very happy!'. The film encapsulates these hidden feelings and agony.

The slow burning rage in the film gives us all the time to understand (at least, to an extent) what runs through head of someone like Omar. The film makes a scream of shoutout against violence with its lead protagonist committing it. We see him choosing with no other options left.

At one point, we see Bush, Vajpayee and External Affairs minister then commenting on him. And then we see Omar's father giving a press meet in the film. The film doesn't Photoshop Rajkumar's face in the images of Omar. It swiftly switches on and off between film and fictionalization.

I don't remember another Indian film that followed the thought process of a terrorist this close. There were films like Roja, but not this way. Here the film doesn't end to a patriotic - world peace wanting end. We see the rage still burning even as screen fades.
 
Halfway through the film.. I can't stop wondering how great and remarkable Vishwaroopam would have been given it explored things this better rather than being a mere 'super hero saving the nation' film.

The terrorizing nearness in Anuj Rakesh Dhawan's visuals etches a panic throughout the film. And so is Aditya Warrior's editing. The images are not showstopping Santosh Sivan styled. The moments are not cinematised like how ManiRatnam or Vishal Bharadwaj would do. These are for real. The blood.. The gore.. The chaos that intrudes in calmness.. Through Ishaan Chhabra's score an explosive nature moods up the whole film. They bang at your head with subtle beats.

At films like these.. one can't make sides or stands. For the issues, emotions, reasons and agonies are million miles beyond our understanding. It can't be just brushed off with a single handed thought, 'Violence is never an option'. Ofcourse the statement is the ultimatum. Still.. What Hansal Mehta explores is the quiet rigidness that embraces someone's heart when confronted with constant oppression over years and years to one's community and people.

The real life moments are organically recreated. Like the only-he-knows-what smile Omar carried when got arrested and taken to the jail. Rajkumar Rao is brilliant in every sense possible. Look out the scene where he casually chews the food after knocking the gut out of the person who mocks him. There is a bit of Anurag Kashyapstic image to him that so effortlessly represent him as an against, as a rebel.
 
However the most intriguing moment to me was near the end.. when Omar makes call to both India and Pakistan.. that almost leads to a near-war situation. Look at Rajkumar's face when he keeps the phone down. It's evil. Nothing but sheer evil!

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