Boycott Oppenheimer floods Twitter as Indians in outrage with Christopher Nolan film’s sex scene with Bhagavad Gita reference

Christopher Nolan’s first R-rated film in 20 years, Oppenheimer has found criticism for a particular scene from the Indian audience. The film has become the talk of the town ever since its release on Friday, 21 July. It is based on the life of J Robert Oppenheimer, who paid a key role in the Second World War. Notably, Oppenheimer was hailed as the ‘father of the atomic bomb’ responsible for the bombings in New Mexico, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki.

However, the movie has landed in controversy for a sex scene between lead actor Cillian Murphy and his female co-lead Florence Pugh. The scene shows Oppenheimer reading out a verse from the Bhagavad Gita while having sex with his love interest Jean Tatlock. The majority of Twitter users in India reacted negatively to the scene and called for a boycott of the film.

Oppenheimer is an R-rated movie because of explicit content and nudity

The film has already been rated R for sexually explicit content and nude scenes. Many users have pointed out that the censor board chose to censor cuss words and blur specific parts during the sex scene but they didn’t censor the part about the Bhagavad Gita.

“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. Boycott Oppenheimer,” a user on Twitter labelled the scene as a sheer ‘disrespect’ to Hinduism. “Now Hollywood also needs to learn some ethics as Oppenheimer shows Murphy reading Bhagavad Gita during a sex scene, and needs to boycott the film. Stop disrespecting Hindu sentiments,” read another remark.

Another user termed it the ‘blasphemy of Hindusim’. They wrote, “Censor board has chopped the abusive words in Oppenheimer movie but it has allowed the scene where the main lead actor is having sex while reading Bhagavad Gita.” The movie features stars like Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, and Rami Malek other than the lead stars Cillian Murphy and Florence Pugh.