“Assault on Hindu community”: Information Commissioner Uday Mahurkar on Bhagavad Gita in ‘Oppenheimer’ intimate scene

New Delhi [India], July 23 (ANI): While Christopher Nolan latest directorial ‘Oppenheimer’, starring Cillian Murphy in the lead role, has opened to packed houses and rave reviews, an intimate scene in the film featuring a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, considered a holy scripture by the Hindus, has triggered online fury in India.

The scene has angered the audience in India, many of whom vented their fury online, calling out Nolan for hurting religious sentiments.
The Information Commissioner of the Union government, Uday Mahurkar, also voiced his misgivings over the scene and hit out at the filmmaker.

Speaking to ANI on Sunday, Mahurkar said, “It’s (the scene) an insult to Bhagavad Gita, which is our holy book. It sends out powerful and meaningful messages to the entire world. How could someone demean it this way? The scene is an assault on our values and civilisation. It’s an assault on the Hindu community.”

Further, calling on Nolan to delete the offensive scene from the film, he added, “Nolan should remove this scene from the film. It reeks of religious hatred. If he doesn’t take out the scene, we will act,” he added.

Earlier on Saturday, Mahurkar, also the founder of Save Culture, Save India, took to Twitter to say the scene is a scathing attack on Hinduism.

“It has come to our notice that the movie ‘Oppenheimer’ contains a scene which makes a scathing attack on Hinduism. As per social media reports, a scene in the movie shows a woman making a man read Bhagwad Geeta aloud while indulging in sexual intercourse. She is seen holding a copy of the Bhagwad Geeta in one hand, ” he wrote.

He added, “We do not know the motivation and logic behind this unnecessary scene in (a film based on the) life of a scientist. But this is a direct assault on (the) religious beliefs of a billion tolerant Hindus.”

“We urge, on behalf of billion Hindus and the timeless tradition of lives being transformed by revered Geeta, (the makers) to do all that is needed to uphold the dignity of our revered book and remove this scene from the film across the world. Should you choose to ignore this appeal, it would be deemed as a deliberate assault on Indian civilisation. Eagerly await needful action,” he said.

He added that he wants the matter investigated by top officials and ministers, including Union Information and Broadcast Minister Anurag Thakur.

He wrote, “This should be investigated by the I&B Ministry on an urgent basis and those involved should be severely punished. As observed by Union I&B Minister Anurag Thakur-ji recently and even by our courts in the last couple of years, what we get in the name of entertainment is often insensitive to our culture and the sentiments of our people.”

The movie, which was released in theatres on July 21, revolves around the life of Robert Oppenheimer who was the man behind the first atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

‘Oppenheimer’ was released alongside ‘Barbie’, both generating huge craze among fans.