2017-04-03 Mon

It’s been 49 years since the release of ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ on 2nd April 1968, but the film is still iconic. Probably the best science-fiction film of all time, it is considered as one of the greatest films ever made.

A film about exploring the unknown, it was coincidentally released when the space race between the United States and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was at its height. It appeared at the same time as NASA's exploratory Apollo Project with manned Earth-orbiting missions. It also showed the influence that computers would have on our life one day.

The film has less than 40 minutes of dialogues- depicting the silence that is space and instead has stunning visual imagery leaving the viewers mind to experience the non-verbal, mystical vastness of the film and to search the meaning of the film with their own subconscious.

Initially receiving mixed reviews, it later garnered a huge cult following. It slowly became the highest-grossing North-American film of 1968. The National Film Registry had selected this film for preservation around 1991. The Moving Arts Film Journal named it the greatest film of all time in 2010.

Arthur C. Clarke, who wrote a screenplay of this film, also wrote a novel on this soon after. He has also written many sequels to it – 2010: Odyssey Two, 2061: Odyssey Three and 3001: Final Odyssey.

Unites States Postal Service issued this 1st Class commemorative stamp of this film on 13th May 2014.