It's been six years since Hansal Mehta's Omertà hit the big screen. The film, starring Rajkummar Rao in the titular role, had its share of controversy upon its release because it is a biographical crime drama in which the actor plays Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, a Pakistani-born British terrorist. In case you are wondering where to watch Omertà on OTT, the film is available to stream on ZEE5 (OTTplay Premium) as well as Prime Video.

About Omertà

Omertà explores the plan to assassinate Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002 and the 1994 kidnappings of Westerners in India that led to Omar's capture and incarceration. The title is a pun on the Omertà name and alludes to the Mafia's rule of silence. 

The 2017 Toronto International Film Festival, the Mumbai Film Festival, the Florence Film Festival, the Hong Kong International Film Festival, and the Busan International Film Festival all screened this film in their Special Presentations section. The 2018 New York Indian Film Festival screened Omertà on its closing night. After its May 4, 2018 release, critics overwhelmingly praised the film.

Origins and development

For the uninitiated, back in 2005, actor Mukul Dev approached Hansal Mehta with the idea for Omertà, marking his first foray into screenwriting. The filmmaker mentioned that when Dev told him the story, the internet was really slow. As a result, he had to spend money on books, archival items, and magazine items to conduct the investigation. Despite starting to write the screenplay, he ultimately decided to work with Rajkummar Rao on Shahid (2012) because it was an easier film to make. Omertà was created by Rajkummar Rao. Mehta had to meet the actor, and because he did, Rajkummar became an enabler; because of him, the director could make this film. Hansal originally considered Omertà's lead actor to be Riz Ahmed, a British actor with Pakistani roots.

Making Omertà, according to Mehta, was all about delving into evil's human characteristics. He went on to say that he hoped the audience would feel awe, disgust, hate, and surprise, and wanted to think about the ramifications of these terror events on their lives today. Omar Sheikh, the film's antagonist, is the hannibal of terrorism, according to Mehta; he could be plotting your outwit even as you speak to him.

Actor's challenges

In addition, according to Mehta, the movie exposes state-sponsored terrorism and how it manipulates young minds into believing a sordid interpretation of Jihad. Mehta and his crew shot the film at many real-life sites in India, including Old Delhi, portions of Kashmir, and Himachal Pradesh, as well as in Afghanistan and Pakistan, re-creating the scenarios. Mehta and his crew revisited some of the locations that Ahmed Sheikh had visited. According to Mehta, the film omits Sheikh's background and his transformation into a terrorist. It is an uncomfortable film that will raise uncomfortable questions and answers that people have to compel the establishment to find. Among the many real-life movies they bought were those documenting the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight 814 and the events following 9/11.

Rao gathered a lot of hatred and anger inside himself to play the character by watching several films, documentaries, and hate speeches by Sheikh on repeat. He went on to say that playing the role disturbed him while filming, calling it easily the toughest character he has ever portrayed. While filming in Paris in November 2015, the attacks occurred. Rao claimed he identified with the role and enjoyed the assaults, but he quickly came to see the error of his ways. A criminal code of honour that includes complete non-cooperation with legal authorities is what the film's title alludes to in Italian. 

The Central Board of Film Certification gave Omertà an 'A' rating after only two edits. The censor board demanded the removal of the national anthem from a sequence that depicted the protagonist's mental condition and featured full frontal nudity, both deemed insulting. A few days prior to the film's premiere, news broke that restricted scenes had leaked online.

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