During the social media and real-life fiasco that was the opening weekend of Barbenheimer, It seems like everyone has something to say about both Barbie and Oppenheimer. While most reviews of the hit films have been glowing, Oppenheimer has faced quite a bit of criticism for multiple reasons. If you’ve been on Twitter in the past 48 hours, then chances are you already know what we’re talking about: we’re talking about that sex scene between Cillian Murphy and Florence Pugh.
For those who haven’t seen the film yet, there is a sex scene between Murphy’s character J. Robert Oppenheimer and Pugh’s character Jean Tatlock. While many online have had questions over why the sex scene was added, it appears the scene has heavily angered Indian officials, and calling it “a scathing attack on Hinduism.”
Founder of the Save Culture Save India (SCSI) Foundation Uday Mahurkar tweeted about “a scene in the movie shows a woman makes a man read Bhagwad Geeta aloud while getting over him and doing sexual intercourse. She is holding Bhagwad Geeta in one hand, and the other hand seems to be adjusting the position of their reproductive organs.”
He added that “The Bhagwad Geeta is one of the most revered scriptures of Hinduism,” and the scene “is a direct assault on religious beliefs of a billion tolerant Hindus” and “almost appears to be part of a larger conspiracy by anti-Hindu forces.”
You can see the whole tweet HERE!
Mahurkar isn’t the only one offended by this scene. According to Variety, India’s minister for information and broadcasting Anurag Thakur has asked for the scene to be deleted.
For those that don’t know, the Bhagwad Geeta, also known as “Song of God” is one of the holy scriptures of Hinduism and is often used as an introductory text for those interested in the religion, per World History Encyclopedia. And according to Britannia, this text has been dubbed the “Hindu equivalent of the New Testament,” for those who want to know a grasp of the situation.
It’s unclear if this particular sex scene happened in real life with J. Robert and Tatlock, But it is well known that he, in real life, was quite fascinated by Sanskrit, also known as the “the sacred language of Hindu scripture,” per History.
While many are outraged, others don’t agree with the outrage, and so far, none of the cast has commented on the controversy after the film was released on July 21.
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