KATHMANDU: The plots of Czech fiction writer Milan Kundera’s books are extremely unexpected. He was not very generous about letting movies be made based on his fiction. He used to be worried about the fact that justice would not be done to the original material. Even so, movies were made based on most of his books. The movie of the same name based on Kundera’s novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being reached all the way to the Oscars.

Across the world, many movies have been constructed by stepping onto the foundation of books in this very manner. Some movies have caught the essence of the book well, and they are also of an artistic as well as tempting kind. Sátántangó, Schindler’s List, Life of Pi, and Haider are a few examples. In Nepal as well, there is indeed a practice of making movies based on books, but commendable works are very few. Mostly, they have been made disfigured.

The transformation of books is not limited to movies only. Many visual poems are found where word-created emotions are decorated in paintings. Even the creations of a poet and a painter are kept on display within the same emotional ground. There is one novel by Nobel laureate fiction writer Orhan Pamuk, The Museum of Innocence. The birth matrix of this novel by Pamuk is stone art. He gathered more than 80 stones, rare ones. He decorated them in one room, and gradually getting inspired by those very decorations, he wrote the novel. Later, a movie was also made based on this very novel.

Trojans taking the giant horse left by the Greeks on the shore, believed to be an offering to the goddess Athena. Photo courtesy: Encyclopedia Britannica

Did art not get repeated from the creations of a single creator scattered across multiple genres? Did it not create a situation of annoyance for the reader/listener/viewer? When someone asked like this, he used to say, my creations spreading across diverse genres have caused nothing bad. Rather, while remaining limited to only one genre, the access of some stakeholders (viewer/listener/reader) had not been possible. Based on interest, access, and absorption capacity, let everyone enjoy my creations in their own way. I, for one, am happy.

The roster of genre transformation is long and equally interesting. Standing in this very wave at this moment is The Odyssey. This is The Odyssey, composed by Homer. ‘Odyssey’ means a long, wandering, and eventful journey or quest. A journey where piles of uncertainty, challenges, adversity, and risk are present at every step.

The Odyssey is a saga filled with Greek myth, history, and ancient lore. There is a description of the character Odysseus and his interesting and sensational journey.

To understand the story of Odyssey, one has to return to the Trojan War. The two sides involved in this conflict described in Greek myth were the Greeks and the residents of Troy City. After the abduction of Helen, the princess of the Greek kingdom Sparta, a 10-year-long war takes place between these two sides. A massive discussion of this is found in Greek myth as well as literature. Homer’s own Iliad is also a document centered around this very war.

According to legend, the Greeks sat besieging Troy City for a long time. Eventually, they demolished the wall of Troy and freed Helen.

Cover of Homer’s ‘The Odyssey’

In The Odyssey, the events of the ups and downs of these 10 years are indeed there. Along with that, the description of his return journey is equally full of curiosity. Over there in the palace, the news reaches them that Odysseus has been killed. In what state of mind and restlessness were his wife Penelope and son Telemachus living? A heartbreaking account is told.

In the absence of Odysseus, a long line of those wishing to marry Penelope forms in the palace. However, she stays waiting for Odysseus without budging an inch. The event is ancient, even mythical. This fictional story of the palace matches equally in every society, in people of every status.

On one hand, there is a large crowd that considers a single woman a helpless character. On the other hand, the number of those approaching her through various excuses and mediums and eager to fulfill their foul gratifications is also not small. In this sense, The Odyssey is also a peephole to peer into our own society, which is considered modern.

The Odyssey is a composition from many centuries before the Christian era started. In The Odyssey, which is divided into 24 chapters, the character Ulysses is also present. In the sixth chapter, the narrative becomes centered on the character Ulysses. His meeting takes place with Nausicaa. To help Ulysses, Minerva is following him like a shadow. Ulysses dominates The Odyssey until later as a powerful character. Grabbing this very character, the Irish writer James Joyce later wrote an entire novel, Ulysses.

With the presence of the wicked goddess Circe, the goddess of wisdom Athena, the nymphs who tried to bring Odysseus under control, the prophet Tiresias, and others, the event turns in a way different from our pre-estimation. The description is equally full of dilemmas. There are many aspects within The Odyssey, like prayer, worship, meditation, miracles, dreams, ghosts, sorcery, and intrigue, which are making the reading of unfamiliar geography easy as well as exciting. While reading Odyssey, our prevailing ancient poems/fictions come vividly to memory. Moving away from myth and fiction, we connect back to our own environment and geography. After all, in our lives as well, each of these aspects affects us somewhere, in some form, time and again, and sometimes even misleads us.

Christopher Nolan attends Universal Pictures ‘THE ODYSSEY’ Premiere on July 11, 2026 in Mumbai, India. Photo courtesy: Universal Pictures PR Team

The Odyssey is considered an epic itself. It is in the original form of verse poetry. So that it could be understood easily, it was later molded into fiction as well. Greece, the primitive city of civilization’s development. Initially, Odyssey appeared in the Greek language of this very place. Later, it was transformed into many languages. The English translation is also not limited to only one, translations done by different writers at different times are available. Let us call them the spoken tradition or the auditory tradition, they are the major foundations of mythical material. Texts like the Mahabharat came into existence in this very way. Where, even if the name of one person is mentioned, it is believed that different people contributed at different times. It is assumed that others also added something and made it refined or advanced.

It is fine to call The Odyssey a serialized continuation of oral storytelling as well. Because of this, its period of composition and historical cornerstone are unclear and also contradictory. Even so, there is fascination in the story.

At this very time when the excitement of the World Cup football has reached its peak, the world cinema sphere is thrilled because of the screening of the movie Odyssey, written/directed by Christopher Nolan, which starts on Friday (July 17).

Anne Hathaway as Penelope in The Odyssey movie, carrying Odysseus’s bow for the suitors to string during the contest. Screeshot from the The Odyssey trailer

Taking The Odyssey as a base, movies including Ulysses, Odyssey, and The Return have already been made. It has also already been staged/displayed in drama and other art forms. Nolan’s Odyssey is another achievement.

Christopher Nolan is a name that movie lovers keep following, and that too with extreme reverence. The movies directed by him are focused on distinct subjects and are of the kind that leave a lasting impact. Nolan knows perfectly well how to make movies that are entertainment-oriented and bind the audience without twisting the subject. His previous movie, the biopic made on the scientist Oppenheimer, had created a widespread debate.

It is hoped that it will mesmerize even the community that considers itself all-knowing in the digital world. For the crowd that is limited to ‘reels’ and ‘memes’ of minimum time while the practice of reading books is disappearing, Nolan’s The Odyssey is a timely dosage.

Should one separate oneself from social media and the online world for a few hours and get lost in the mythical world? Should one become one with Christopher Nolan’s magical visual world?