Here Is The Real Story Of The Man Rajkummar Rao Is Playing In Omerta

When an actor of Rajkummar Rao ’s caliber calls this role the most difficult one in his career, the man is sure worth knowing. Releasing tomorrow, Hansal Mehta ’s directorial Omerta will have Rajkummar Rao playing a deadly terrorist named Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh more commonly known as Omar Sheikh.

Sheikh is a British citizen of Pakistani descent who has been at the helm of many terrorist activities including the 1994 kidnappings of western tourists in India and the infamous kidnapping of Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl and his subsequent murder. Presently he is awaiting the verdict on the judicial appeal that he has requested after being sentenced to death for the kidnapping and murder of Pearl.

What sets Sheikh apart from many extremists is his backstory. A brilliant student, Sheikh attended Forest School in London. The alumni of Forest School included names like former English team cricket team captain Naseer Hussain. He enrolled for a degree in statistics from the prestigious London School of Economics before he dropped out of it. Sheikh also briefly attended the Aitchison College which is one of the most exclusive colleges for boys in Pakistan. He was reportedly brilliant in chess and even won a few junior championships in London.

However, while studying in LSE, Sheikh got involved with the British intelligence agency MI6 and was sent to Balkans to engage in Jihadi operations. But he got influenced by the extremist ideologies and turned rogue and served as a double agent.

Throughout his life as an operative he has had connections in the highest echelons of power in both ISI and Al-Qaeda he earned the title of Bin Laden’s ‘special son’ and within one year of joining the terrorist organization in 1993, by 1994 he was already in charge of important operations.

After the 1994 western tourist kidnapping case he was sentenced to a prison in Ghaziabad, however, the authorities had to provide him free passage to Afghanistan in light of the Air India Flight 814 hijack in 1999.There were also reports of his involvement in 9/11 attacks.

Presently serving his time Hyderabad Central Jail in Pakistan in relation to Daniel Pearl kidnapping and murder, Sheikh declared that he believed he had reasons for doing what he did and there was no right or wrong about and they should not be doing America’s bidding. Although he, later on, went ahead with a judicial appeal. While in Karachi Prison, it was reported that he made a failed attempt at committing suicide.

In the aftermath of 2008 Mumbai attack, Sheikh also made a hoax call to Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari pretending to be the then foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee and giving war threats to Pakistan. Later investigation revealed that the call was made by Sheikh from his prison cell with a smuggled phone and a British SIM card. He was put in solitary confinement after the incident.

One of the most brilliant minds in international terrorism and someone who has been involved in the most high profile cases of organized terrorism that the world has witnessed, Sheikh’s story is one that is as fascinating as it is almost unreal. In the hands of Hansal Mehta and Rajkummar Rao Omerta is an attempt to bring this story on screen, which without a doubt, would be one of the most fascinating tale of a brilliant albeit complicated mind and ideologies set against the backdrop of global terrorism.