Overheard at ‘The Odyssey’ Mumbai premiere with the Nolan bros

It is a Friday afternoon when Mumbai’s Phoenix Palladium, which only recently recovered from the carnage of the Zara summer sale, hosts a horde of a different kind—the fans, guests, and press assembled for The Odyssey’s India premiere.

The carpeted path to PVR, adorned with pink star motifs, intended for the red bottoms of Tom Holland’s (respectably) heeled Louboutins, is traipsed upon by eager Bershka and Uniqlo shoppers, their usual path obstructed by the carpet.

Since I am about to watch a Nolan film—notorious for grand music and whispered dialogue—I prime my ears to listen extra closely, a fringe benefit of which turns out to be some excellent eavesdropping.

I arrive 15 minutes early, only to be informed of a 30-minute delay. It’s fitting that Nolan’s first India premiere would be happening in both senses of the term “Indian Standard Time”. Some Nolan fans have a lot to say about the delay. “I want to speak to your supervisor”, in particular, sticks out on its third repetition. Odd, I thought: Nolan fans should have had a particular gift for understanding the manipulation of time.

The horde organises itself into two lines. Nolan Bro 1 pushes up against me as he welcomes fellow fanatics to his spot. I catch him mid-diatribe. “I am his big fan, first of all.” I assume he’s ecstatic to be watching the film early. Nolan Bro 1 continues, “I don’t want to invade his personal space, first of all...,” going on to detail his plan to duck out during the screening and try to catch the filmmaker. Like kids stacked up in a trench coat, they devise a masterplan to make their Nolan meet-and-greet happen.

Nolan Bro 2 retorts: “We’ll take Regis, you take Taj. He’s bound to step out for dinner, and then we’ll know where he’s staying.”

The Nolan fan group have a uniform dress code, all wearing iterations of “Directed by Christopher Nolan” tees. Their graphic tees broadcast that anything IYKYK, they know. Nolan Bro 1 fits in, opting for the classic, if not basic, “Directed by...” tee. His apparent second-in-command wears the logo of Syncopy (Nolan’s production company). The group rounds itself out with a presumably homemade tee mapping Nolan’s filmography and, finally, a reference to The Prestige, a lesser-known pick, so that if Nolan does see him, he’ll know this guy really loves him.

Huddled together, they whine:

Syncopy Dude: “25 years of hard work. I’ve had this shirt since 2008.”

Mr Prestige: “If you wear a Nolan T-shirt and come with a printout, they should say, ‘Dude! You should be in the front row.’”

Nolan Bro 1: “70 per cent are definitely not fans...”

He then zeroes in on a woman some paces ahead of him in line.

Nolan Bro 1: “Yeh toh Barbie doll hai. They don’t even know!”

They chuckle, pleased with themselves.

Barbie doll, my eavesdropping reveals, is a senior cinema journalist at a respected publication. I suppose there is Barbenheimer everywhere for those with eyes to see.

Their sartorial devotion is outdone, however, by a fan who goes by @metalbenderstudio on Instagram, an award-winning cosplayer who has crafted garments for Uorfi Javed. After receiving his invite, Metal Bender aka Saurabh Singh Rawat spent two days crafting a replica of Agamemnon’s helmet to wear to this screening. Dozens ask him for photos. I can’t tell through his headgear, but he must be pleased

Eventually, the queue starts moving and we learn that our spot is of little import, since seats are assigned. “Row H/J and seat 15/16 are the best seats in the house,” I hear the confident voice of a fan who has carefully studied the theatre seating map. “Press or fan?” an organiser asks as we funnel in. The Nolan bro behind me in line corrects her, “Invited.” He’s more than a fan, obviously.

We grab our passes, tickets, and wristbands, and go up the escalator to be greeted by a fleet of novelty IMAX popcorn buckets in honour of The Odyssey being the first film shot entirely on IMAX. “Can we take this home?” asks an earnest film scribe as they eat their salted popcorn—the only flavour offered—while the Freeloader Journo responds, “I don’t care if we can. I will. I’ll lick it all over.” The Freeloader bucket-lover continues with a kernel of popcorn in her mouth, “I’m more excited for this IMAX popcorn bucket than Tom or Nolan kyunki usko ghar nahi le sakti.”

A crowd of regulars, though, sound disappointed over being unable to place their usual order of “cheese-caramel popcorn, 65 per cent cheese, 35 per cent caramel, medium Pepsi, and a samosa at intermission”. Their cinema bathroom routines, too, would be held hostage by the unpredictable start time and lack of intermission.

Even with no indication of a start time, and pre-assigned seats, a line magically forms. For Christopher Nolan fans, this group has an unusual proclivity for lines, or, dare I say, linearity. “I already can’t wait to watch it again!” says one superfan before their first viewing.

Some journalists from east Asian publications arrive, one in a Grecian gown. This screening is one of the film’s first, and the only fan screening on the film’s global circuit. “Why did they choose to do this premiere in Mumbai?” is the question on everyone’s lips. Maybe something about our complex relationship with time, where an 8:30 dinner invite results in a 10 pm arrival, spoke to Nolan?

In the cinema, IMAX screen before us, seat switching antics began. The last film I had watched in this theatre was Oppenheimer; for someone a few seats down, it was Alpha. “I watched Dhamaal and Alpha back-to-back. Can you imagine what that did to me?” laments the serial filmgoer. The irony was not lost on her and many others in the audience: that an epic indictment of war mongering was generating excitement in a venue that would otherwise treat war as a necessary ingredient of the Indian blockbuster. “That’s how you know Nolan isn’t watching Indian films.”

The row behind me is discussing IMAX and how it only allows you to shoot three minutes at a time. “The shoot must have taken as long as the actual Odyssey,” someone jokes, “Actually,” his friend, Mr Wikipedia Watcher, interjects, “The shoot was 91 days long.” Fans of this kind come well-armed with facts about the film they have yet to see—not to mention opinions on how it deserves to be recognised. My personal favourite piece of trivia about the film was that no partners were allowed to visit the set (not including Tom Holland and Zendaya, since both are in the cast), except for Ben Affleck. Even Nolan couldn’t keep him away from Matt Damon.

Finally, the lights lower. Thankfully, there are no soul-crushing tobacco-use commercials, but the national anthem announcement is met with confused groans by a largely Indian audience: Nolan was their country now.

The first voice we hear is Travis Scott’s. (The last time I heard his voice was in the Couples Quiz he did with Kylie Jenner years ago. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have done one of those too, although they called theirs a “Friendship Quiz”.)

The cinema etiquette is understood, so the eavesdropping opportunities subside. Yet, a handful of moments provoke understandable responses.

Matt Damon’s first appearance on screen elicits gasps and pearl-clutching befitting a matron from the Victorian times. The sight of Cyclops is met with “Monstro Elisasue?!” from someone well-versed with the Demi Moore starrer The Substance. A moment that confirms that men are, in fact, pigs, is met with snaps, claps, and head nods. Many of Robert Pattinson’s line readings receive pleasantly scandalised gasps and giggles as he has become accustomed to earning.

The third act elicits full-on bad behaviour; there’s hooting and hollering like we’re in a World Cup final or Marvel movie. Almost three hours in with no intermission, it can’t be held in any longer. A fair enough reaction to Batman, Spiderman, Catwoman, and Jason Bourne on screen together.

People stay all the way through the end credits, knowingly applaud for David Keighley, Nolan’s late IMAX mentor whose last work was on this film.

The lights come up, and without a beat I hear “Where is he?”. Minutes later, Christopher Nolan, Matt Damon, Tom Holland, and Emma Thomas aka Lady Nolan are in the room and take turns speaking.

As they take the group photo, we’re asked to hold up our IMAX popcorn buckets. Nolan turns around, wide-eyed, and delivers the final overheard comment of the night: “Do we get those too?”