Omerta Reviews and Box Office thread

OMERT MOVIE REVIEW: HANSAL MEHTA FAILS TO BRING THRILLING SIDE OF TERRORIST AHMED OMAR SAEED SHEIKH IN THIS RAJKUMMAR RAO STARRER

By Kunal Guha, Mumbai Mirror | Updated: May 3, 2018, 12.40 PM IST

Critic's Rating:

2.5/5

Avg Readers' Rating:

2.5/5

CAST:

Rajkummar Rao,Rupinder Nagra,Ravi Khanna,Rajesh Tailang

DIRECTION:

Hansal Mehta

GENRE:

Action,Biography,Crime

• CRITIC'S REVIEW
  

A docu-style drama based on the inglorious life of terrorist Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh seemed a safe zone for director Hansal Mehta, also credited for narrating lawyer and activist Shahid Azmi's unfiltered account in Shahid. That the extremist terrorist in this film was involved in the killing of American journalist Daniel Pearl, masterminding the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai and sundry militant acts, required furnishing an abominable lead. Merciless slaying to avenge the death of fellow Muslim brothers and sisters could've cumulatively produced a chilling tale of religious extremism. But Omert barely digs below the surface and merely ticks the significant events in the British national's life.

The film opens to unexplained desperate cries before we're introduced to a bearded lad who speaks the Queen's English. Omar Sheikh (Rajkumar Rao) chugs milk, is a master of chess and has an amiable manner. Claiming to be in India to visit his parents, he befriends a Czech, two Brits and an American tourist and then abducts them. When he's arrested, we're thrown into a flashback where we see our deceptive lead protesting against violent killings of Muslims in Bosnia. A student of LSE, Omar wants to do something about the acts of brutal violence, and the Maulana at the local mosque in London where he lives with his father has a solution. "Now, he has become Allah ka banda. Don't worry about him, the Maulana assures his concerned father before deploying him on a mission.

Omar is parcelled to Pakistan and later to a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan where he meets an Al-Qaeeda chief, then another and later, an ISI official. They all greet him with the same courtesy "We need young, educated men like you. Once trained, the film hurriedly ticks all the significant attacks perpetrated by the terror group in question and weave in Omar's contribution or reaction to each. This is laced with news footage to lend authentic documentary feel which barely amplifies the overall impact.

A biography of a terrorist mastermind required the filmmaker to delve into his mind. Particularly since this pertains to a man who has received his education in the West, it was essential to detail his transformation into a fundamentalist and the twisted logic he employs to rationalise his extreme views. But filmmaker Hansal Mehta takes the lazy route and spontaneously chanting "Allah Ho Akbar! with a group of militants is apparently enough to suggest that he has turned over to the other side.

Needless to say, a lot rests on Rajkummar Rao here. While he manages the heavy lifting and carries the film for the large part, his accent goes from Brit to Indian shopkeeper in the US and then he rolls his Rs at one point. Agreed Omar is a man of English conditioning and once he leaves Britain to take shelter in Pakistan and Afghanistan, it would've taken a toll on his tongue too. But it's all too scattered. A larger concern is that Rao barely manages to conjure the kind of intimidation a terrorist mastermind would be expected to channel. Even when his character flogs a corpse for what seems like eternity and then chops off his head meticulously and holds it up, he has blood dripping from his forehead, but it seems too constructed.

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Movie Review: Omerta

Shilpa Jamkhandikar

3 MIN READ

2/5

In Hansal Mehta's "Omerta, Rajkummar Rao plays the role of the Islamist militant Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was convicted of kidnapping and killing American journalist Daniel Pearl.

Handout photo

The film traces Omar's journey from his life as a student at the London School of Economics to a radicalised militant with links to the 9/11 attacks.

Omar, a strapping man who grew up in London and is currently in a Pakistani jail, was also involved in the kidnapping of four foreign tourists in New Delhi in the mid-1990s. Not too much information about him is available in the public domain, and that means Mehta is left to his own devices as he fills the holes in the story and uses only major incidents involving Omar as journey markers.

Mehta could have served up a cautionary tale of a promising young man who turned to fundamentalism and committed horrible crimes in the name of religion, but he never gets his hands dirty enough to delve deep into why Omar turned out the way he did.

Slideshow (2 Images)

Much like the camera, Mehta follows his subject from a distance, sketching out some incidents with what feels like gratuitous detail, while skimming over other events. The film makes just a passing mention of Omar being one of the prisoners released after the hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight in 1999, and does not dwell on Omar's alleged links to the 9/11 bombers, both seemingly important plot points.

Mehta styles the film like a run-of-the-mill production. The acting is below par with the exception of Rao. The accents are atrocious, the dialogue is trite, and even Rao is saddled with an awkward British accent that he seems to forget in some scenes and remembers with a vengeance in others.

"Omerta goes for effect rather than depth by focusing on Omar's modus operandi rather than his intentions and ideologies. Even as a thriller, it is tepid, never upping the ante. Rajkummar Rao, one of the best actors in the Hindi film industry, puts in a staccato performance. Even he is not able to rise above the stilted script.

Omerta movie review: Brilliant performance trapped in a not quite brilliant film

DECCAN CHRONICLE. | MAYUR SANAP

Updated

May 3, 2018, 1:14 pm IST

Hansal Mehta's latest Omerta comes short to being a terrific film but Rajkummar Rao is absolutely fantastic.

Omerta was first screened in the Special Presentations section at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival.

Story Content

Rating: 2.5/5

Director: Hansal Mehta

Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Rupinder Nagra, Keval Arora, Timothy Ryan Hickernell.

Hansal Mehta who previously helmed hard hitting films like Shahid' and Aligarh' is back with another intense drama Omerta', which stars his frequently collaborated actor Rajkummar Rao in the titular role. Like Mehta's previous films, this film is also based o the true events that tells the story of a dreaded terrorist Omar Saeed Sheikh. The character of Omar was featured in Shahid', in a brief scene where he tries to recruit lawyer Shahid Azmi in his plan while in Tihar jail. Interestingly, Rajkummar played the role of Shahid in that film.

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Omerta chronicles the bloody trail of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, a British terrorist of Pakistani descent. The film explores 1994 kidnappings of Western tourists in Delhi for which Omar was arrested and served time in prison and the plotting of murder of Wall Street journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002. The film also tries to delve into the reasons why youths are taking to jihad.

The flashback sequences of Omar's young-adult days show him as an impassioned character getting disturbed by the violence against his own people, yet the film offer little insight into his ultimate transition later. Omar's grotesque conversation with his father (Keval Arora) gives no clue either. Hansal Mehta, who has also written the script, tries to stuff all the possible events from Omar's life in the slick runtime of 96 minutes of the film, but he comes short of making a convincing drama. Ishaan Chhabra's music Amarjeet Singh's cinematography deserves a special mention, it smartly elevates the grittiness of drama a notch higher.

Rao, the darkest horse amongst the young actors today, once again proves how magnificent performer he is. Last year alone we seen him excelling in variety of roles: from an extreme agony of a man shut in an inhibited apartment in 'Trapped', to a morally uptight government officer in terrific 'Newton'. But in Omerta he both transforms and transcends. As Omar he is pale and cold, looks scary at times even. Mehta provides enough backstory to understand the motivation behind Omar's disturbing actions and Rajkummar makes us to fully grasp his character's psychology - and in that sense the actor has given a brilliant performance.

Omerta is gloomy and disturbing, it's surely not the kind of movie you'd expect to attract regular cinegoers, but even for its selected audience group it remains underwhelming. Albeit, Rao's spectacular performance should earn it a good attention. Its yet another welcome addition to his brazen filmography.

https://www.deccanchronicle.com/entertainment/movie-reviews/191017/omerta-movie-review-brilliant-performance-trapped-in-a-not-quite-brilliant-film.html

Omerta' Movie Review: Rajkummar Rao-Hansal Mehta's film is worth a dekko if you like terror sagas

Rajkummar Rao in a still from 'Omerta'

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WRITTEN BY

Meena Iyer

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Updated: May 3, 2018, 06:00 PM IST

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Film: Omerta

Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Keval Arora, Timothy Ryan Hickernell

Direction: Hansal Mehta

Genre: Crime, Drama

Duration: 1 hour, 36 minutes

Language: Hindi (U/A)

Story:

The film chronicles the life and times of the British terrorist of Pakistani descent, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh (Rajkummar).

Review:

Right at the start, we can see subtle traces of a derailed mind as Omar strolls around aimlessly in Delhi. The milk-drinking hero, who goes around with several aliases, is a sociopath and an expert chess-player. The brooding well-educated man, however, is not content playing board games. He is determined to apply himself to the cause of jihad.

Though Omar shares a warm relationship with his London-based father, Saeed Sheikh (Keval Arora), he is keen to pursue the war against the West because he believes they have committed atrocities against his kith and kin.

As his bloodlust grows, he enrolls in several tasks including the kidnapping of four foreign tourists in New Delhi in 1994 and later, he abducts the Wall Street journalist Daniel Pearl (Timothy Ryan Hickernell). He hopes that a video message sent from the kidnapped Pearl will bring America to its knees. And, when Pearl attempts an escape, Omar bludgeons him to death.

For the most part, Omar keeps a straight face showing no emotions neither when he is being subjected to third-degree nor when he is being trained for his life's biggest mission.

Rajkummar is good (he is usually various degrees of good in most of his movies). But out here, he is not his best because his character is underwritten. There is no backstory on why he chose terrorism nor are any kinks in his formative years highlighted. Hence, you cannot invest in his character beyond a point. For the most part, he has a deadpan expression and even when he raises his voice to intimidate, it doesn't strike terror.

What really strikes fear is the music by Ishaan Chabbra. There is an urgency in the background score that excites. The cinematography by Anuj Rakesh Dhawan is efficient. He captures the bylanes of Delhi's Paharganj and the other rocky terrain in so-called Pakistan beautifully; showcasing day, night, sunset and dawn skillfully.

Hansal keeps the length perfect, at a little over an hour-and-a-half. However, his writing just about passes muster. The dialogue is shoddy and repetitive and the script, credited to him is clinical.

Verdict:

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!

Critic's Rating: 3/5

http://www.dnaindia.com/bollywood/report-omerta-movie-review-rajkummar-rao-hansal-mehta-s-film-is-worth-a-dekho-if-you-like-terror-sagas-2611149

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