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No Fear No Favour

Rajkumar Rao never imagined playing a terrorist in ‘Omarta’ would mentally take him to such dark places

By Purvi Jain

Actor Rajkumar Rao recalled how Hansal Mehta’s ‘Omerta’, a 2017 release allowed him to push his boundaries as an actor.

“Omar in Omerta is certainly one of the most challenging characters I have ever played on the screen. It drained me completely emotionally and physically. I could never have imagined that playing this part would mentally take me to dark places. It’s a journey of me of the most deadly terrorist of our times and Hansal sir pushed me out of my boundaries to explore”, said Rajkumar, regarding the film in which he portrayed Omar Saeed Sheikh, British terrorist of Pakistani descent.

The actor further added, “This wasn’t easy film to make with multiple locations, adverse weather conditions and often limited resources. What we had in ample measure was heart. The entire team had put their heart and soul into every minute of the process throughout the way.”

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The actor has given some of his best performances in Hansal Mehta Films. In fact, his role in Mehta’s 2013 release ‘Shahid’ grabbed him Best Actor award at National Awards.

Mehta also shared about his collaboration with the actor. Of the film, which streams at Zee5 from July 25 onwards, Hansal said, “This (Omerta) was my fifth collaboration with Rajkumar Rao, and perhaps one of his biggest challenges as an actor. After having made films like ‘Shahid’, ‘Citylights’, and ‘Aligarh’ together, we were exploring a character’s inner darkness through this film’s protagonist Omar Sheik. This is a film I’m proud of. ‘Omerta’ is an important document of our times.”

On the work front, actor Rajkumar Rao will be seen in three upcoming movies, ‘Ludo’ directed by Anurag Basu, ‘Roohi Afzada’ directed by Hardik Mehta and ‘Chhalaang’, again in an association with Hansal Mehta.

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