DOWN THE TERROR TRAIL

Based on real life events, Omerta is the biography of Omar Saeed Sheikh, a British citizen of Pakistani descent, who had links to various Islamist militant organisations and was responsible for several terrorist activities in India and Pakistan.

The film exposes state-sponsored terrorism and how it manipulates young minds into believing a sordid interpretation of struggle or fight against the enemies of one’s religion. This is not a film about the rightness or wrongness of Omar’s cause or the political situation that inspired it. It simply documents his cold-blooded journey.

In the process, the film inadvertently glorifies terrorism. Sans any entertainment, there are bloodcurdling moments that make you feel repulsed – right from the kidnapping of foreign tourists in Delhi to the scenes that involve the annihilation of the Wall Street journalist Daniel Pearl, in Pakistan.

Narrated in a non-linear manner, the film is taut and engaging during the first act. The second act loses it sheen due to the poor editing that causes the confusion between place and period. And the third act with the inclusion of many news-media stock-footages, seems a tad tacky and a rushed job to wrap this non-conclusive narrative.

Rajkummar Rao delivers a brilliant performance as the emotionally inclined but brutally barbarous, “intelligent and well-educated member of the holy war. Timothy Ryan Hickernell who has a striking resemblance to Daniel Pearl offers an earnest portrayal. Keval Arora

Similarly one notices a change in the graph of Nagesh’s grandson Anu, who from a bubbly little boy turns into a scared, reticent child till he is told to fight his own demons.

Kabir Sajid as Anu definitely steals the limelight from all his co-stars. The child actor is simply endearing. He emotes like an ace, delivers his dialogues brilliantly and holds his stead against stalwarts like Naseeruddin Shah, Sonali Kulkani and Aamir Bashir.

The film boasts of moderate production values. The background score by Rupert Fernandez is bright and chirpy. The songs; Aache bachche rote nahin and Aye Zindagi snuggly mesh into the narrative. Overall, the film is too flat and straight.

Troy Ribeiro

as Saeed Sheikh - Omar’s helpless and lost father is sincere.

The title Omerta which in Italian means a code of silence about criminal activity and a refusal to give evidence to the police, refers to the attitude of ordinary people who look the other way and don’t bring the criminals to book. It denotes the motivating factor of Omar’s strife.

However, at the end as you leave the theatre, you are bound to question the motive of this film and its worth.

Troy Ribeiroa