New Delhi: The biopic Oppenheimer, on the life of the scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, finally hit theatres on July 21, 2023. Physicist Oppenheimer is played by Cillian Murphy, while his ex-fiancee Jean Tatlock is portrayed by Florence Pugh. People were really excited about what Christopher Nolan, the director of the film, narrated about the man who created the atomic bomb. But currently, Oppenheimer reading the Bhagavad Gita while having sex came as a surprise and caused a huge controversy throughout social media.
I’m calling for a boycott of the movie Oppenheimer. I just learned there is a highly offensive scene involving the Bhagavad Gita in it. I will not repeat it here, but it involves something explicit. Never trust Hollywood and West to depict Hinduism positively and accurately.
— Indian-Americans (@HinduAmericans) July 20, 2023
Audiences are outraged by the scenario and have resorted to social media to voice their disapproval. A lot of people were angry because the Censor Board of Film Certification let that part of the film stay in there.
Shame on India’s censor board for allowing this. Christopher Nolan is a typical Hollywood racist. He completely shut out all the Indian fighters in WWI movie and now he is making crude sexual references with Hinduism. Porno perverts from the West again exploit Hindu texts. https://t.co/qhiifzipNQ
— Indian-Americans (@HinduAmericans) July 20, 2023
Nolan has already confirmed that there would be extended nudity and a sex scene in the film. However, Indian audiences saw a fuzzy spot on Pugh’s back. According to accounts, the blurring was done by the filmmakers themselves and not at the request of the Censor Board of Film Certification. The CBFC requested that the word “as****e” be muted. However, the sequence in which Pugh asks Murphy to read the Bhagavad Gita during her intimate encounter with Murphy has remained.
Many viewers have complained about the film because of this moment, calling it insulting. They have brought up the same issue and questioned the CBFC for releasing the film without altering a sequence that might offend religious viewers.
Another article on how the Gita is misused. Christopher Nolan made up this stupid scene that never existed. Instead of talking in an intelligent way about Gita, they include this sex scene. Western elites have long transferred their perversions onto India. https://t.co/Y053UougGk
— Indian-Americans (@HinduAmericans) July 21, 2023
Can’t we boycott a movie which is insulting our religion? Why are we so comfortable with it? Why are we happy that our holy book is mentioned in this movie? This is really very disgusting! #BoycottOppenheimer#Oppenheimer pic.twitter.com/x1OhGpAWBs
— Prachi Sharma (@divaprachi) July 22, 2023
There was a scene in Oppenheimer where a naked girl brings the Bhagvat Gita to Oppenheimer and he reads from it while they’re having sex.
Very disrespectful scene in my opinion.— Sufyan (@PsyOpValkyrie) July 21, 2023
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 debate was exacerbated when mythology author Devdutt Pattanaik revealed that physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer had interpreted the line from the Bhagavad Gita wrongly. Oppenheimer is said to have remembered a line from the Gita after the successful Trinity test, which led to the development of the first atomic weapons. The author, however, contends that Oppenheimer misjudged the content.