Now I am become... A Controversial Sex Scene: Breaking down the Oppenheimer Bhagavad Gita row

On July 21, a day that will be remembered by cinephiles as “Barbenheimer Day”, Christopher Nolan’s ambitious biopic on the Father of the Atomic Bomb earned sold-out shows all across India. With the director enjoying a dedicated fanbase in the country and previous movies like The Dark Knight Rises and Tenet being filmed here, Indians venerate Christopher Nolan as a god among directors. 

But now, Hindu viewers in India are angered with Nolan messing with their gods. 

ALSO READ: Was Oppenheimer really friends with Nehru?

What exactly happens in that Bhagavad Gita scene? 

It’s common knowledge that J Robert Oppenheimer was an admirer of the Hindu spiritual text Bhagavad Gita. During the first successful atom bomb detonation at the Trinity Test, Oppenheimer is said to have quoted a Gita verse, “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” The physicist went on to utter the same line in a famous TV interview years later. 

Nolan introduces Oppenheimer’s fascination with the Gita and the ancient language of Sanskrit in quite an intimate scene during the first hour of the movie. As Florence Pugh’s Jean Tatlock is smitten with Cillian Murphy’s Oppenheimer after meeting him at a party, the duo indulge in sex on a rather jolty bed (note: this is the first sex scene EVER directed by Nolan). 

ALSO READ: Oppenheimer Real vs Reel

Post-coitus, Jean flicks through his bookshelf and finds a hardbound edition of Gita. As Oppenheimer was a master of many languages, the version is in its original Sanskrit. A still-naked Jean asks a still-naked Oppenheimer to read a verse from a random page that she opens. 

Oppenheimer plans on giving her some context as he tells her about the god Krishna preaching to the warrior Arjun to perform his duty before which Jean tells him to just read out a verse. And Oppenheimer dutifully follows her order, muttering the words, “I have now become Death…” as Jean climbs on her lover again and Ludwig Göransson's score reaches a haunting crescendo. 

How are Hindus reacting?

Many Hindu netizens took to Twitter expressing their disappointment with Gita’s awkward placement in the sex scene. In fact, an organisation by the name of “Save Culture Save India Foundation” also sought “an investigation by the Information & Broadcasting Ministry on an urgent basis”. Their press statement expressed their disappointment over the Hindu sentiments hurt. 

What does the Information & Broadcasting Ministry feel? 

The Gita scene is just the prelude as a more graphic and surrealist sex scene plays out in the second hour of Oppenheimer (that is otherwise getting polarising reactions from filmgoers even beyond India). As for Indians, they only got to see a black rectangle covering the nude bodies of Pugh and Murphy as India’s Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) had conveniently censored it. 

The censorship proved to be a profitable decision for Indian multiplexes as while Oppenheimer is rated R (restricted for viewers under 18) in the United States, it passed in India with a U/A rating making it suitable for audiences above 13 years of age. 

Now, it seems that the first sex scene (with the Gita involved) can also face the CBFC’s wrath as it faces pressure from I&B minister Anurag Thakur. In the midst of the ongoing Gita controversy, Thakur is reported to have been seeking an explanation from the CBFC. 

Thakur along with Information Commissioner Uday Mahurkar seem to be baffled with how CBFC passed the movie with a U/A certificate with the Gita scene intact. However, in the CBFC’s defence, the Gita scene doesn’t include any full frontal nudity (unlike the second one that they heavily censored) and sex is implied rather than actually performed. 

While the CBFC is yet to issue a reply, Mahurkar will not just be satisfied by India censoring the scene. He wants it to be removed from every single theatrical cut of Oppenheimer. In an open letter addressed to Nolan, he termed the scene a “disturbing attack on Hinduism” and appealed to the filmmaker to remove the scene worldwide.

Nolan is currently giving interviews about his new movie while also extending his solidarity to the ongoing SAG/WGA strike. 

Krishna actor Nitish Bhardwaj feels the Gita scene isn’t offensive

More often than not, when any Hindu mythology-related controversy is blasted out of proportion, yesteryear actors from Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan and BR Chopra's Mahabharat get their fair share of press coverage. Just weeks earlier, with the Ramayan adaptation Adipurush courting trouble, many of the serials' actors and Mahabharat’s Mukesh Khanna expressed their disappointment. 

ALSO READ: From Mukesh Khanna to Ramanand Sagar Ramayan cast, how are the oldies reacting to Adipurush?

Now, in an unexpected surprise, actor Nitish Bhardwaj has voiced his pro-Nolan sentiments. With his claim to fame being portraying Krishna in Mahabharat, Bhardwaj offered his justification for how the scene isn’t that offensive. 

“When Oppenheimer created the atom bomb and it was used to kill most of Japan’s population, he was himself questioning whether he did his duty properly,” he told E-Times, “His famous interview showed him in tears, which means that he had probably regretted his own invention. He probably saw that his invention would destroy the human race in the future and he was probably remorseful."

Addressing the sex scene, he added, "The use of this verse in the film should also be understood from Oppenheimer’s emotional state of mind. A scientist thinks of his creation 24x7x365 days, irrespective of what he is doing. His mind space is consumed fully by his creation and the physical act is just a natural mechanical act."

Bhardwaj might have overanalysed the scene painting Oppenheimer as a workaholic but it’s nevertheless surprising to find Hindi television’s Lord Krishna offering this perspective. 

Even Ram Gopal Verma has an opinion!

Once a celebrated filmmaker and now a full-time troublemaker (and feet-lover), Ram Gopal Verma also joined the debate with his views on Indians and the Gita. While he wasn’t explicit enough to express either his support or criticism towards Nolan, he does find it ironic that the real-life Oppenheimer read a scripture that he doubts “even 0.0000001 % of Indians read”.