Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ has fared as well as expected worldwide. However, some of its scenes garnered mixed reactions from the film’s Indian viewers, especially an intimate scene featuring a mention of the holy Bhagavad Gita.
‘Oppenheimer’ is Nolan’s first film to include a sex scene. However, the director felt it was important to accurately portray J. Robert Oppenheimer’s (played by Cillian Murphy) life and his passionate relationship with Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh), though some have found the scenes offensive.
Viewers have taken to Twitter to voice their anger at the film’s sex scene featuring the Bhagavad Gita. A Twitter user @HarrisSultan blasted Oppenheimer as disrespectful for having a sacred book used in a sex scene. Some viewers were also surprised that when Oppenheimer was released in India, the sex scene was blurred, but the Bhagavad Gita reference stayed despite being potentially seen as “blasphemy.”
Many also noted that the scene wasn’t historically accurate or necessary. Some defended the decision, though, since the characters don’t regard the book as “holy” and only as “Sanskrit.”.
The Bhagavad Gita’s presence in the sex scene isn’t the only time the book appears in the movie. Part of its significance is based on history, as in real life, Oppenheimer had a fascination with Sanskrit and became immersed in ancient Hindu texts, including the Bhagavad Gita. He was always curious and knowledgeable about religion and language, but it seemed the Gita resonated with him, considering it philosophical but never calling himself a conventional Hindu.
A quote from Gita actually plays a big role in the film, as when the eponymous physicist sees the terrible power of the atomic bomb he helped create, he says, “Now I am become Death, destroyer of worlds.” This was also historically accurate, as the real-life Oppenheimer later said that it was this Gita quote that came to his mind when he first saw the explosion of the atomic bomb.