Mythologist claims Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ misquotes Bhagavad Gita

Christopher Nolan’s film stars Cillian Murphy in the role of Oppenheimer.

• Mohnish Singh
• 21 July, 2023

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By: Mohnish Singh

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer was one of the most-awaited films of 2023, which opened in cinemas to glowing reviews on Friday 21. The film is based on the life of nuclear physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, widely known as the ‘Father of the Nuclear Bomb’ and is a silver-screen adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel American Prometheus by Kai Bird and the late Martin J. Sherwin. It revolves around the Manhattan Project where Oppenheimer played a crucial role in leading to the development of nuclear weapons during World War II. After getting success in carrying out the Trinity test, the physicist recollected a quote from the Gita which led to the creation of the first atomic bomb.

The quote reads: “If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendour of the Mighty One… I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.”

Now, Indian author and mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik has spoken about the atomic bomb creator’s fascination with the Bhagavad Gita and how his interpretation of the verse was wrong.

“I did some research on Oppenheimer, and I had never come across this line. I had never heard this line. Someone said it was chapter 11, verse 32, which really says ‘kaal-asmi’, which means ‘I am time, destroyer of the world’. So, his translation itself is wrong. It is not ‘I am death’. It is time, time is the destroyer of the world,” he told an Indian publication.

He added, “For a scientist, if he has used this sentence… And I have seen that video also of his, where he keeps saying, ‘I am death, I am death’. It is very clearly, ‘I am time’. ‘Kaal’ means ‘time’. That is what he is saying, but of course, he gets excited because he’s seeing death and destruction at a massive scale, and he’s obviously seeking some kind of a spiritual background… I think he was looking for some solace, and he found this verse very dramatic.”

Christopher Nolan’s film stars Cillian Murphy in the role of Oppenheimer. Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr, Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, Benny Safdie also play important roles.