Omerta

“From the commonplace emerges the terrifying, from the unexceptional comes horrifying evil… As biopics go, this one chucks all templates out of the window.”

Rating: 3.5 stars | Full review

“We don’t fully understand the character, and we’re conditioned to fear what we don’t understand. This amounts to why Omerta is a decent, focused film. I’m not sure it could have been any more than that.”

Rating: 3 stars | Full review

“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.”

Rating: 4.5 stars | Full review

“Unveils the new face of terror that was previously unheard of. Not the revenge driven wretched souls or the money minting mercenaries but the suave, educated yet radicalised to the core, cold and manipulative animal… Because some people like to see the world burn.”

Rating: 3.5 stars | Full review

“A searing biopic… about a nihilistic ideology that is cultivated by malignant philosophy… Mehta’s non-linear narrative is tellingly paced, has interestingly poised juxtapositions of the real with the enacted and is edited with a purposefulness that allows for an unadulterated segue of factual assimilation… Though Hansal’s accomplished craft is what gives this cinematic rendition a sharp perspective it’s actually Rajkumar Rao who lends efficacy to the entire effort. His portrayal of Omar Saeed is so torturously real that you wouldn’t think of him as any other.”

Rating: 4 stars | Full review

“Understanding the inner workings of an evil mind can be fascinating. What drives such people to the steadfast pursuit of their immoral and unethical actions? Why are they so drawn to violence? Do they ever feel any remorse? How do they justify the enormity of the terror they unleash on themselves and others?”

Rating: 3.5 stars | Full review

“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.”

Rating: 3.5 stars | Full review

“One of Mehta’s finest films, Shahid is a bold exploration of what it means to be a Muslim in present-day India. Shahid confronts its hero’s complexity without losing sight of its concerns. Omerta confuses a listing of Sheikh’s actions with psychological acuity. The more we see of Sheikh, the more the questions we have about him, but the movie sticks to what, when and how, rather than why.”

| Full review

“Mehta’s frequent juggling of timeline and location means the jag and jump of the filmic technique matches the fragmented nature of the narrative. The chaos is needed, for though there’s some shock in Omerta, there’s little surprise. By concentrating on how terror agents operate on a daily basis (some of the better scenes show Sheikh baiting his quarry with chess and a guided tour of Red Fort or by helping them bargain in a curio store), Mehta offers a ground-level view of terrorism that’s less jingoistic than what Indian cinema usually has to offer. What you don’t get is the immersion into a character’s psyche that marked the previous Mehta biopics.”

| Full review

“Mehta has shown a pattern. He takes a compelling idea, tinkers with it, achieves some success and then surrenders his ambitions way too quickly. There’s a reason he’s made five films in five years. What results is not a shoddy film – Mehta gets the basic details, atmosphere and performances right – but one that is too content with itself, too busy patting its own back to see anything else. If it had looked sideways it’d have found other frogs doing the same inside a well; if it had looked upwards it’d have seen a sky looking down with hope and disappointment.”

| Full review