Oppenheimer: Reciting of Bhagavad Gita during sexual intercourse irks netizens, termed as an attack on Hinduism

A scene in "Oppenheimer", in which the titular character appears to have sex as he reads out verses from an ancient Sanskrit scripture, has irked a section of social media users. They claimed the passages came from the Bhagavad Gita and demanded that the scene be cut from Christopher Nolan's most recent movie.

A 180 minute long expansive biographical movie titled "Oppenheimer" on the titular American theoretical physicist had a successful Friday opening in India. It has allegedly made close to Rs 30 crore at the box office in just two days.

In an open letter to Nolan, Uday Mahurkar, the Information Commissioner for the Government of India, called the sequence a "disturbing attack on Hinduism" and pleaded with him to cut it from the film globally.

"We urge, on behalf of billion Hindus and timeless tradition of lives being transformed by revered Geeta, to do all that is needed to uphold dignity of their revered book and remove this scene from your film across world. Should you choose to ignore this appeal it would be deemed as a deliberate assault on Indian civilisation. Eagerly await needful action (sic)" Mahurkar, founder of Save Culture Save India Foundation, wrote.

The man known as "the father of the atom bomb," J. Robert Oppenheimer, was reported to have studied Sanskrit and been influenced by the Bhagavad Gita. The scientist claimed in an interview that the first thing that crossed his mind when he saw the first nuclear bomb explode on July 16, 1945, was a line from an old Hindu book that read, "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of world." 

In the movie, Cillian Murphy's character, Oppenheimer, is shown having intercourse with Florence Pugh's character, psychologist Jean Tatler, while she requests that he recite a passage from what looks to be a Sanskrit book (whose title or cover is not discernible). Tatler insists that Oppenheimer read the line she is pointing to, and the bewildered scientist does so. It begins, "Now, I am become Death, destroyer of the world." After Universal Pictures trimmed several sequences to make the movie shorter, the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) reportedly assigned the movie a U/A grade, designating it as appropriate for viewers over the age of 13.