Hansal Mehta recalls how Omerta was saved by Vivek Agnihotri from censorship: ‘He fought the most with the censor board | Bollywood News
If you look closely at Hansal Mehta’s filmography, there is what one could describe as a Muslim trilogy: Shahid, Omerta and Faraaz. As hard-hitting and politically incisive as these films are, they also deal with subjects that are risky to tackle in today’s socio-political climate, especially Omerta, which chronicled the life of terrorist Omar Saeed Sheikh. Hansal recently, in an exclusive conversation with SCREEN, opened up about how difficult it was to make a film like Omerta and the battles he faced with censorship, with the CBFC demanding multiple cuts. In a particularly acrimonious phase of these negotiations, he found an unlikely ally in filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri. Recalling a deleted scene that the Censor Board strongly objected to, Hansal said, “There was a scene where the Indian National Anthem is playing in the jail. He’s (Omar) in jail, it’s Independence Day, the entire jail is there, the flag has been hoisted, the National Anthem is on. And this guy has taken off his pants and he’s peeing in his cell. He hasn’t gone out, he’s …
