You might see it as the other side of the same coin that is Shahid. The making of a man deeply affected by similar incidents, but one who chooses a different path.

Omerta, a biographical drama on British-Pakistani terrorist Omar Saeed Sheikh directed by Hansal Mehta, opens with unidentified wails flooding a pitch-black screen. This might be the maker’s way of informing us that the story – as is often the case, but frequently neglected by Hindi cinema’s hasty biopic directors – began long before the film that will attempt to encompass it.

With crisp editing and a runtime of 97 minutes, the film never lets you lose attention and the gripping narrative style ensures you are on the edge throughout. Rao proves his mettle once again as he smoothly gets into his cold character who can switch accents and personalities with equal ease – and does it all for the sole purpose of serving the ‘holy war’.

A sense of injustice has been flaring in Mehta too since the time his face was blackened by Hindu fundamentalists. The face behind the black paint has since then, been his main subject.

In Omerta, he tries to close in on those who smear the paint, and with that change in focus, he achieves something he hadn’t achieved yet.

Something indescribable; something that terrorists and artists both die trying for: Salvation.

In recounting a widely documented tale, the screenplay hits the right thriller buttons. When violence is perpetrated indiscriminately and without any moral context created with the aid of a detailed back story, it can only be deeply disconcerting. Omerta is just that and therein lies its success.

The director has not invested much screentime into how Omar plans his complex actions or what drove him to such abhorrence. So while Mehta gets the mood right, and Rajkummar works wonders with his limited material, ‘Omerta’ fails to stir you emotionally.

Omerta is worth a dekko if you like terror sagas. Interspersing news footage — from the ’90s until the recent Mumbai 26/11 attacks — with a glamourised version of Omar’s life, it does manage to provide an overview of a contemporary terror hero. The likes of him literally have world-safety hanging perilously by a thread. You may as well know his face! 

Omerta has enough elements to keep you glued to your seats. Rajkummar Rao is outstanding and yet again nails another character coming out of a Hansal Mehta film.

Omerta’s pace is so unrelenting and Rao’s acting so immersive that it is impossible to turn away from the screen for a single moment of the film’s compact 97 minutes and 37 seconds. To call it gripping might be an understatement.

Omerta is not a film for the faint-hearted. The jodi of Rajkummar Rao and Hansal Mehta has again proved that they have an hunger for brave and insightful cinema.

Omerta is not an easy film to watch. It cuts the protagonist’s movements down to size in episodic chunks and then regurgitates the vivid moments into scenes of colour-blinded documentation. There is a moment where Omar, pretending to be an ordinary tourist in Delhi named Rohit is accosted by an aggressive cop on the road who tells him bluntly that he “looks” like a Muslim.

Omerta is a pain-lashed brutal and blunt exposition on terrorism. It offers no hope for the end of violence. In fact it tells us that violence won’t go away even if we want it to.

Technically the film is power packed with sheer cinematic brilliance and we cannot stop applauding the scenes captured by Anuj Rakesh Dhawan with delicate finesse and class. Mukul Dev has lined up every single event which Omar was involved and the intriguing screen-writing by Hansal Mehta is what the film stands for. To be honest, seek it not as a film but a source of authentic information.

Serious cinema lovers !!! A must watch.   

It’s unfair to expect Mehta to know all answers, but perhaps the writer duo could have created a few more poignant moments. Omerta is a film true to its intent, which will benefit many by its record-keeping. But yes, that feeling of wanting to know more and have more cinematic moments lingers.