18th Annual NEW YORK INDIAN FILM FESTIVAL May 7-12, 2018
CLOSING NIGHT FILM SCREENING
HANSAL MEHTA’S OMERTA
Closing Night
Saturday May 12, 2018 @ 6 pm.
Auditorium 1
Village East Cinemas, 2nd Avenue @ 12th Street, NYC.
Tickets: $50, $45 IAAC members. (includes Red carpet, Cocktail Party, Hansal Mehta's Omerta, post-screening discussion, Award Ceremony, Afterparty)
OMERTA New York Premiere
2017 | India | 96 mins | English, Hindi & Urdu (with English subtitles)
Directed by - Hansal Mehta
Produced by - Nahid Khan & Shailesh Singh
Cast – Rajkummar Rao, Timothy Ryan Hickernell, Mukesh Chhabra,Rajesh Tailang,Keval Arora, Blake Allen, Nisha George
Post-screening discussion with director Hansal Mehta, actor Rajkummar Raoand Timothy Ryan Hickernell
Synopsis: "It is no nation we inhabit, but a language. Make no mistake; our native tongue is our true fatherland." – Emil Cioran.
He is a paradox among men. Son to a loving father, he is also the adopted son of a nation that sponsors terror outfits across the world.
Educated at LSE, he is also educated in urban warfare, bomb making, advanced psychological warfare and irregular tactics by the leaders of the craft. Abstaining from alcohol and tobacco, he drinks only milk. The plight of his brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers in the Bosnian War leaves him a wreck. Yet he does the same to innocents in his own brand of twisted justice, sanctioned at least in his eyes by all seeing, all-powerful God. He thinks of himself as a savior, adored by millions of fanatics. Yet wanted by almost every law enforcement agency in the world.
Living in a prison, he lords over his dominion, sowing the seeds of terror and discord, toppling governments and regimes. A spider pulling at a thousand strings in a web only he understands.
He is the man who almost set two nuclear ready nations at each other’s throats.
His name is Sheik Syed, Ahmad Umar Sheikh, Ahmed Omar Sayed Sheikh, Umar Sheikh, Sheik Omar Saeed, Omar Saiid Sheikh, Sheikh Omar, Sheikh Omar, Shaykh Saiid. Out of these names and many more, the one he was born with was Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh.
Omerta is a mind numbing and cerebral take at the complex paradox of a man. Omerta is the code of silence, punishable by death if violated. The secrets of the real Omar will go with him to his grave; this Omerta is a look at trying to understand the mind of a man who is out of touch with the world. A man who lives two lives, a man who has a wife and child, but no friends except those who further his needs.
The films posits the question of what it means to be a fundamentalist, why does someone pick up a gun with the intent of killing in return for an afterlife in Paradise. Unapologetic in its approach, it lays down the bare facts and the facts alone and leaves the viewer with a sense of awe, disgust, hate, surprise and lets them examine the ramifications of these events in their lives today.
Director:Hansal Mehta is an established Indian film director, producer, writer and an actor who started off with directing a very popular television cookery show ‘Khana Khazana’ in 1993 followed by several television series like Amrita, Highway, Yaadein, Lakshya and many more.
Hansal started his journey as a feature film director in 1999 with the acclaimed Jayate (Victory) and later on directed the migrant tale Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar and a short film in Dus Kahaniyaan. Mehta directed his much-acclaimed film, Shahid starring Rajkummar Rao in 2013. The movie, which is a biographical film on the life of human rights lawyer Shahid Azmi, went on to winning the National Film Award for Best Director and Best Actor.
