A scene in “Oppenheimer”, in which the titular character appears to have sex. As he reads out verses from an ancient Sanskrit scripture.
It has irked a section of social media users, who claimed the lines are from the Bhagavad Gita and demanded the removal of the sequence from Christopher Nolan’s latest film.
“Oppenheimer“, a 180 minute-long sprawling biographical drama on the titular American theoretical physicist, opened in India on Friday. Thus to positive reviews and has reportedly amassed close to Rs 30 crore at the box office in two days
Uday Mahurkar, Information Commissioner, Government of India, wrote an open letter to Nolan. As terming the scene a “disturbing attack on Hinduism” and appealed to the director to remove the scene worldwide.
“We urge, on behalf of billion Hindus and timeless tradition of lives transformed by revered Geeta. Thus 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 deemed as a deliberate assault on Indian civilisation. Eagerly await needful action (sic)” Mahurkar, founder of Save Culture Save India Foundation, wrote
In the US, the movie has rated ‘R– Restricted’, which means viewers under 17 would require accompanying parent or adult guardian. This Nolan’s first R rated film.
In his post, Mahurkar said he “perplexed as to how the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) could approve the movie with this scene.”
There was no immediate response from CBFC chairperson Prasoon Joshi. And other members of the censor board, when contacted.