India can't see The Odyssey the way Christopher Nolan intended — and that's a shame

Christopher Nolan has spent nearly two decades asking audiences to trust cinema. Not streaming, not phones, not compressed digital life - but theatres. With The Odyssey, he has made perhaps his strongest argument yet. The tragedy is that, despite their enthusiasm, Indian audiences cannot watch as he intended.

That thought lingered with me long after the credits rolled.

The Odyssey proves why India needs IMAX 70mm screens

Nolan reimagines Homer's epic as a man haunted more by memories than by monsters. That emotional weight is what stayed with me most. Matt Damon's Odysseus is less than a mythical warrior, but a broken king trying to find his way back home after years of war. Nolan strips away the romanticism of mythology and instead fills the screen with grief, regret, and the scars left by violence.

Ironically, a film so obsessed with immersion cannot be experienced in its fullest form in one of the world's largest movie markets.

The Odyssey was the first feature film to be shot entirely with IMAX film cameras, a technological milestone that Nolan has spent years working towards. It is not simply another blockbuster released in IMAX. The film was conceived, photographed, and finished for IMAX 5-perf/70mm - the highest quality commercial motion picture format available.

That distinction truly matters.

When people hear IMAX, many assume that all IMAX screens offer the same experience.

Newsflash: It does not.

The IMAX theatres in India are digital IMAX venues. They offer larger screens, improved sound, and brighter projection that conventional theatres don't offer. However, they cannot project 15/70mm film prints. India currently has no commercial cinema equipped to screen The Odyssey in its native IMAX 70mm format.

For most films, this difference is academic. But for Nolan, it's fundamental.

Nolan has always treated format as storytelling. If his screenplay is important, then so is the format he shoots his film in. The towering cityscapes of The Dark Knight Trilogy, the vast beaches of Dunkirk, and the atomic fireball in Oppenheimer - these moments were designed around the extraordinary clarity and scale of IMAX.

The Odyssey? It pushes the idea even further.

Watching the film, I realised how Nolan lets his landscapes breathe. The coastlines and volcanic formations, endless oceans and daunting cliffs are not merely backdrops; they become pivotal characters. The camera lingers just long enough for isolation to settle in. Every wave and horizon reinforces the emotional distance between Odysseus and the home he is desperately trying to reach.

Digital IMAX still delivers an impressive presentation of the magnum opus. However, IMAX 70mm captures vastly greater image detail and the colossal aspect ratio, allowing viewers to see significantly more of the frame. It transforms the scenery into something almost tactile, making the massive scale a part of the storytelling.

That loss becomes almost noticeable in The Odyssey because it is another one of Nolan's spectacular visual films. Emotions are carried by faces against enormous landscapes. The mythology feels grounded because the physical world around these characters feels overwhelmingly real.

That's why audiences across the United States, Europe, and Australia travelled hundreds - and in some cases thousands - of kilometres to secure IMAX 70mm tickets. Some screenings sold out months in advance, while others scheduled overnight shows to meet demand. For many viewers, the format became a part of the event.

Indian fans, however, never had that option.

It's particularly unfortunate, as India has become one of Nolan's strongest international markets. Oppenheimer performed exceptionally well here, while Interstellar, Inception, and The Dark Knight Rises continue to attract devoted audiences years after their release. If any country outside North America has consistently demonstrated an appetite for Nolan's brand of large-format filmmaking, it is India. Yet we remain unable to experience what may be his greatest technical achievement.

None of this diminishes the film. NOT AT ALL. Even in digital IMAX, The Odyssey remains an extraordinary cinematic achievement. Its emotional ambition, practical filmmaking and astonishing performances survive every format. But surviving is not the same as flourishing.

Cinema has always been about preserving artistic intent. We discuss directors' cuts, colour grading, aspect ratios and sound mixes because they shape how stories are experienced. IMAX 70mm is not a marketing gimmick attached to The Odyssey; it is part of the language Nolan chose to tell this story.

That is why I cannot help but feel that Indian audiences have missed more than just a premium screening. We have missed the version of The Odyssey that Christopher Nolan actually made.