Rajkummar Rao’s incredible portrayal of terrorist Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh in his upcoming film Omerta, was seen at the Busan Film Festival after the Mumbai Film Festival. Hansal Mehta, whose last film was the much-talked about Simran, with the controversy’s own child Kangana Ranaut, says that the response to Omerta everywhere was one of stunned disbelief.
The director recalls, “I don’t think audiences are prepared for this level of honesty. I flew down from Busan to MAMI, (the Mumbai film festival) just in time for the screening of Omerta.” Hansal admits that while he was not too psyched about screening it at the city’s film festival, but he was in for a surprise. “The response I got at the two screenings in MAMI was overwhelming.”
Hansal refuses to snip off any shot or moment from Omerta before submitting it to the Central Board of Film Certification. “Let them view the film. Hopefully they will see the violence in the right context and not judge it as gratuitous or sensational. I won’t snip off a single moment. We are planning to release Omerta in early 2018.”
