'Attack On Hinduism': Cillian Murphy Reads Bhagavad Gita During Intimate Scene In Nolan’s Oppenheimer; Sparks Outrage

The book 'American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer’, formed the inspiration for the biographical epic.

Even before the release, the film had drawn a lot of attention in India.

New Delhi: A portion from the Hindu sacred book Bhagavad Gita is featured in a scene in Christopher Nolan's most recent film, 'Oppenheimer', starring Cillian Murphy. The biopic by the Hollywood director premiered in big-screen cinemas worldwide. Even before the release, the film had drawn a lot of attention in India as well, particularly for bringing up the sacred text Bhagavad Gita.  

J. Robert Oppenheimer, a physicist who is credited with creating the atomic bomb, is the focus of the movie. Oppenheimer was the head of Los Alamos Laboratory and a key player in the Manhattan Project, an initiative by the government to carry out research into the making of nuclear weapons. 

Now, the scene that includes a verse from the Bhagavad Gita, a sacred text to Hindus, has infuriated many people and sparked protests. The Central Board of Film Certification of India granted the movie a U/A rating after approving a sexual scene involving Robert Oppenheimer and Florence Pugh as Jean Tatlock. In the movie, Pugh breaks off their sexual encounter in the middle of it, gets up, walks over to the bookshelf, chooses a copy of the 'Bhagavad Gita', and asks that Murphy read aloud from it.

The sequence didn't sit well with viewers, who questioned the CBFC for allowing the release of this movie without removing a scene that would offend religious sentiments.

Here is how people are reacting on social media:

Hindus have been celebrating the mention of the Bhagwad Gita in the Oppenheimer movie, but they are left angry and perplexed at the blatant disrespect of the Gita by Hollywood.

Mentioning holy verses while having sex is considered disrespectful and racist. #BoycottOpenheimer pic.twitter.com/Gvgi5Brsx4

— Harris Sultan (@TheHarrisSultan) July 21, 2023

The studios are now assuming CBFC’s stance and self-censoring, even though in Oppenheimer CBFC didn’t ask for a controversial scene involving the Gita to be cut. They should have taken a chance.
(Context: the blurred sex scene in Oppenheimer) pic.twitter.com/9QuiQXDApG

— Abhijeet Mukherjee (@abhijeetmk) July 21, 2023

Underwhelmed by #Oppenheimer. Prolonged scenes could have been edited a bit. I cringed in the scene where Oppenheimer's naked girlfriend sat on him after sex and asked him to read out a Sanskrit shloka from a book on his shelf. A better scene could possibly have been him sitting… pic.twitter.com/pgr5okyyPI

— Sahana Singh (@singhsahana) July 21, 2023

One of them was Uday Mahurkar, a journalist whom the Indian government nominated as an information commissioner in 2020. Mahurkar founded the Save Culture Save India Foundation as well, and on behalf of the organisation, he stated to Nolan on Twitter, “It has come to our notice that the movie ‘Oppenheimer’ contains a scene which make a scathing attack on Hinduism.  As per social media reports, a scene in the movie shows a woman makes a man read Bhagwad Geeta aloud while getting over him and doing sexual intercourse.”

“We do not know the motivation and logic behind this unnecessary scene on life of a scientist. But this is a direct assault on religious beliefs of a billion tolerant Hindus, rather it amounts to waging a war on the Hindu community and almost appears to be part of a larger conspiracy by anti-Hindu forces,” it read.

. @OppenheimerATOM
To,
Mr Christopher Nolan
Director , Oppenheimer film

Date : July 22, 2023

Reg: Film Oppenheimer’s disturbing attack on Hinduism

Dear Mr Christopher Nolan,

Namaste from Save Culture Save India Foundation.

It has come to our notice that the movie…

— Uday Mahurkar (@UdayMahurkar) July 22, 2023

The book 'American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer’, formed the inspiration for the biographical epic. The biographical book penned by Kai Bird and the late Martin J. Sherwin was awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize. The ensemble cast also features Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Rami Malek, Kenneth Branagh, Benny Safdie, Dane DeHaan, and numerous others.