New Delhi: Christopher Nolan, Matt Damon, and Tom Holland concluded a two-day promotional visit to Mumbai for The Odyssey. They attended the film’s India premiere on 10 July, held a press conference, and visited two restaurants in the city. Producer Emma Thomas also travelled with the group.
The premiere was held at PVR Icon IMAX at Phoenix Palladium in Mumbai.
“This is the first real audience that’s seen the film,” Nolan told the audience. “For many years now, I’ve always wanted to come here and launch one of our films and experience it with the Indian audiences who are some of the most enthusiastic and knowledgeable cinematic audiences in the world. So it’s such a thrill to be here.”
Nolan, Damon, Holland, and Thomas also addressed the media during the visit. Nolan said India had been selected as a stop on the promotional tour because of the country’s cinema-going audience. Thomas said India demonstrated that “the future of cinema is in theatres”.
Nolan and Damon later visited Trishna, the seafood restaurant in Mumbai’s Kala Ghoda area. The restaurant posted a video and photograph of the two with co-owner Ruchit Anchan after the visit.
“I had this certain crab dish at this great restaurant in Mumbai that I’d heard about for a long time, and it did not disappoint, and I will certainly have it when I come back,” Damon told Vogue.
Gateway of India
On 11 July, Nolan, Damon, and Holland visited Olympia Coffee House in Colaba, where they had chai and bun maska. Videos from the café showed the three seated together as customers and staff gathered around them.
A video of Holland smiling and waving at a customer filming him at the café was also widely circulated on social media.
The trio later attended a photocall for the film with the Gateway of India as their backdrop. Thomas also joined them. Later that night, Damon was spotted leaving The Bombay Canteen in Lower Parel after dinner. A video posted by photographer Manav Manglani showed the actor greeting photographers outside the restaurant before getting into a car.
During the press conference, Damon said he had once been expected to work with Indian filmmaker Shekhar Kapur on the 2002 film The Four Feathers, but was unable to do so because of a scheduling conflict.
“That’s like a 20-year-old debt that I have been carrying around in my pocket,” Damon said.
In response, Kapur praised Damon. “I don’t think there is a filmmaker in the world who wouldn’t give their right arm to work with an actor who has as much emotional depth as Matt Damon,” he said.
Nolan, Damon, and Holland left Mumbai after completing the promotional schedule. No public event in Delhi or another Indian city was announced as part of the visit.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)
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