Oppenheimer slammed for including sacred Bhagavad Gita text during sex scene

Warning: Spoilers

Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ opened in theatres across the world this weekend, with Cillian Murphy putting in a critically acclaimed performance as the American scientist J Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb.

One of the most pivotal moments about the film was Oppenheimer’s deep respect and admiration of the Hindu text ‘Bhagavad Gita’ which is part of the ‘Mahabharata’. The epic contains a dialogue between Prince Arjun and the divine Krishna as the former struggles with a moral dilemna. Oppenheimer famously quoted the lines ‘Now I am become death. Destroyer of the worlds’ after the first detonation of the atomic bomb on July 16, 1945.

Robert Oppenheimer, the 'father' of the atomic bomb had quoted a line from the Bhagavad-Gita after first detonation of a nuclear weapon on July 16, 1945. Now Cillian Murphy says he read the Bhagavad Gita to prepare for "Oppenheimer" movie, a biopic of Robert Oppenheimer. pic.twitter.com/FO0LmYO4aE

— PunFact (@pun_fact) July 17, 2023

Murphy said in an interview that he consulted the text while preparing to perform in the film, and described it as “beautiful and inspiring”.

cillian Murphy read bhagavad gita in preparation for movie Oppenheimer…and he finds that beautiful and inspiring…#Oppenheimer #BhagavadGita pic.twitter.com/jchzN01o3J

— R.sreekanth ॐ (@MadhavRon) July 16, 2023

However, a controversy arose from a sex scene between Jean Tatlock (played by Florence Pugh) and Oppenheimer, when she searches his book shelf, finds the Bhagavad Gita and holds it to her bare chest and asks Oppenheimer to recite the text while continuing intercourse.

Hindus on Twitter have slammed the scene as insulting and insensitive towards their religion, with many calling for the government to ban ‘Oppenheimer’ in the country.

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

All the Hindus creating hype over Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, should know that the movie insults Bhagavad Gita in a scene.

“A scene in the movie shows a woman make a man read Bhagwad Geeta aloud while getting over him and doing sexual intercourse.”

— Mona Shandilya (@RoseTint4) July 23, 2023