Rajkummar Rao’s Terror Act Shocks Audiences In  Busan, MAMI

Won’t  Accept  A  Single  Cut….Says Hansal Mehta…

Rajkummar Rao’s shockingly credible performance as global terrorist Ahmed  Omar Saeed Shaikh, which includes a  brutal unsimulated sex sequence and a  sequence where Omar is  shown blatantly  disrespecting the Indian flag, has now gone to  the Busan Film Festival and the Mumbai Film Festival.

Everywhere, says director Hansal Mehta whose last film was the controversial Simran with  the super-controversial Kangana Ranaut, the response was one of stunned disbelief.

Recounts Hansal, “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. I wasn’t too kicked by the  thought of screening it here. But the response I got at the two screenings in MAMI was overwhelming.”

Regarding the highly provocative sequence featuring the national anthem, Hansal says, “It did confuse  people at MAMI. When the National anthem started playing they got to their feet but sat down again when they saw the  context.In Busan I saw some Korean students waiting to get into a screening  of Omerta. When they got to know  I was the film’s director they  took my autograph on their tickets. Mind  you, not selfies,” says  the  director who is  in the process of writing his memoirs which he has titled Selfie.

Hansal refuses  to snip off any shot or  moment from Omerta before submitting  it to the  CFBC. “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.