The recent visit of Christopher Nolan to India in promotion of his movie, The Odyssey, is clearly a deviation from his usual methods of promotions and poses some relevant queries regarding the reasons for such an unconventional decision. It seems like the reason why this decision is Nolan’s fear that film might fail. Although, Indians prefer action over quality, Nolan is banking on Hollywood aura to lure Indians who gets awe inspired by anything Westerner, the famous Gora Complex.
There have been quite a number of controversies regarding The Odyssey. The choice of actors alone is controversial enough to elicit strong reactions from certain quarters. Some people have considered the selection of Black woman Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy as a total disdain for the Western culture of heroes. Also, the selection of transgender and LGBTQ Elliot Page as the Greek hero Achilles has been met with stiff opposition. Some people, including Elon Musk, have condemned the move. The selection of rapper Travis Scott as a bard is another controversy that has been raised against Nolan. Despite Nolan’s claim that it is a way of paying tribute to oral poetry, most find it gimmicky.
The film has been made even more controversial because of political disagreements. The fact that Nolan refuses to comment on the Gaza situation is now getting a lot of flak, especially since about 16,000 artists, including such celebrities as Mark Ruffalo, Joaquin Phoenix, Cate Blanchett, Drake, and Jennifer Lopez have signed the letter denouncing Israel and urging the ceasefire. His reluctance to use his position at the Oscars to voice support is viewed unfavorably by many activists. Moreover, Nolan decided to film some scenes in Dakhla, Western Sahara, which is occupied by Morocco.
The trailer of this film has made history for being the most disliked one in the history of Nolan movies with 428,000 dislikes. With all the controversy and negativity generated by this film, along with these record-breaking statistics, perhaps that is the reason behind Nolan choosing such an odd approach of promotion in India. It seems as if the director is relying on the old fame of Hollywood films among Indians despite the fact that there has always been a considerable difference between the tastes of cinema between Americans and Indians. The visit of Nolan to India can be taken as his desperate attempt to save his film from failure.
