Ram Gopal Varma reacts to ‘Oppenheimer’ Bhagwat Gita controversy

Christopher Nolan’s latest directorial venture Oppenheimer has been doing phenomenal business at the worldwide box office ever since hitting cinemas on July 21.

Based on the life of the well-known American nuclear scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, the big-ticket film stars Cillian Murphy in the titular role.

The film received glowing reviews from critics and the audience, however, a particular scene in the film angered a section of the audience in India. For those not in the know, there is a reference to the Bhagavad Gita during an intimate scene.

Now, filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has spoken about the Bhagavad Gita controversy in a tweet.

Reacting to the controversy, the director tweeted, “Irony is that an American nuclear scientist Oppenheimer read the Bhagwad Geeta which I doubt even 0.0000001 % of Indians read.”

For the unversed, in 'Oppenheimer' there was a scene where the protagonist Cillian Murphy who played J. Robert Oppenheimer was seen invoking a verse from Bhagavad Gita after an intimate scene with his girlfriend Jean Tatlock, played by Florence Pugh.

Several users reacted to Varma’s tweet and many even agreed to him.

One user wrote, “As a devotee of our Hindu faith, I didn’t find anything offensive while watching, especially that scene when Oppie reads the lines from Bhagavad Gita!"

Another one said, “Just to add to it, he read it in Sanskrit! Which will take away that 0.0000001% as well.”

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