Playing A Terrorist In 'Omerta' Disturbed Rajkummar Rao So Much That He Went Into A Dark Place
Rajkummar Rao is not just a star but he is a performer who believes in taking up bigger and tougher challenges everytime. For him, script and the story matter more than big banner films and all his successful films in the past are a testimony to this very fact.
Rajkummar Rao is an actor who believes in getting into the skin of the character by taking the route of method acting and films like Bareilly Ki Barfi, Trapped and Newton have reflected his supremacy in the best possible way.
Now, the actor is all geared up for his upcoming release Omerta, which has been helmed by Hansal Mehta and revolves around the life of terrorist Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who has been held responsible for the 1994 kidnapping of four foreign tourists in Delhi and the 2002 kidnapping and murder of journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan among others. He is also considered as one of the masterminds behind the deadly 9/11 attacks in the US in 2001 and the 26/11 Mumbai attacks in 2008.
In an interview with Indianexpress, Rajkummar Rao revealed all the challenges that he had to face during the shoot and how he has no reason to complain because that's exactly what he enjoys as an actor. Here are excerpts from his interview that are worth reading.
1. Talking about the challenges, he said:
¡°I think it (Omerta) was even more difficult than Trapped. That film was physically taxing but this one mentally shook me up. I was exploring the world which I had no idea about. I was exploring dark roots and secrets about that world and I was very disturbed while shooting for it because I had to play him for that. I had to believe in his ideologies and that was an extremely disturbing process. It is not something I really enjoyed doing.¡±
2. Describing several challenges that he had to face in order to get into the skin of the character, he said,
¡°I could not connect with him at any level. I don¡¯t think anyone would agree with his ideologies. There is no way any sane person would connect to him. What these guys do is extremely inhumane. We all strongly condemn them. But yeah I chose to do this and had to start my process by watching those disturbing videos and documentaries. I would listen to his hate speech over and over again, trying to get myself charged up and gather a lot of hatred and anger inside me which I used while playing the part.¡±
3. He recalled how his personal life too was affected by his preparation. He said,
¡°Patralekha once came on sets while we were shooting in Delhi. She was like ¡®you know what? Something is wrong about you. I do not feel the same. Your energy does not feel the same. I will see you later.¡¯ But I was like ¨C ¡®what why I am the same."
4. Challenges help Rajkummar Rao in taking up roles that matter. He added,
¡°That is the fun. I love challenges. I get very bored if I do something easy. I have done some stuff in past which were easy and I did not really enjoy them. If there is no challenge, I would want to get some into it. There has to be a sort of excitement.¡±
