TIFF 2017: As a cold-blooded terrorist, Rajkummar Rao impresses in Omerta

The filmmaker said he relied on documentary evidence and public accounts for much of the script

How do you make a film about a terrorist who stabs a person repeatedly, slits his throat, makes a video of the grisly act and broadcasts it to the world, as Omar Sheikh did to American journalist Daniel Pearl in Karachi in 2002? That’s the challenge director Hansal Mehta faced while making Omerta, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) this month. 

A filmmaker would typically try to look for another facet to the protagonist. Perhaps Sheikh felt remorse later? But there is documentary evidence of the terrorist grinning as he was arrested for the