Indian director Ram Gopal Varma reacts to controversial Bhagvad Gita scene in Oppenheimer

Christopher Nolan's latest film Oppenheimer may have opened to packed theatre halls in several parts of India, but the film is also courting controversy over a particular sex scene featuring a quote from the Hindu holy text Bhagvad Gita. Several have raised objections to the particular scene on social media and have questioned the Censor board for passing it.

Reacting to the controversy, Indian filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has now taken a dig at Indian citizens wondering how many would have actually read the Hindu text themselves.

In a tweet, RGV wrote, “Irony is that an American nuclear scientist Oppenheimer read the BhagwadGeeta which I doubt even 0.0000001 % of Indians read (sic).”

While people agreed with the Satya director that many haven’t read Bhagavad Gita to be proud of the representation in the film, a section also argued against RGV. “Truth be told, he makes a valid point,” wrote one user. “Let’s say the population of India is 150 crores. 0.0000001% of 150 crores is 1.5 members. Definitely, two members have read,” wrote another.

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The controversial scene in Oppenheimer

The particular scene that has caused uproar in India from the film Oppenheimer has Cillian Murphy reading the Hindu text while having sex.

The same quote, ‘Now I Am Become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds’, is again repeated just before the shockwaves of the Trinity test hits the observers in the camps, breaking the silence that preceded.

Nolan enjoys a huge fan following in India and has shot several of his films in various locations of India, including the Dark Knight series, Tenet and others.

Tickets were sold out in several theatres across India a day before Oppenheimerwas released in theatres. The film is based on the biography American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, and narrates the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, who is regarded as the father of the atomic bomb.