Oppenheimer: The Sex Scene & Hindu Scripture Controversy Explained

In its big Barbenheimer opening weekend, "Oppenheimer" carved through the global box office, with an $180 million in global sales. But not everyone was thrilled with Christopher Nolan's intense biopic of the father of the atomic bomb. One scene in particular has reportedly sparked outrage in India among Hindu nationalists and members of the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party.

Nolan's filmography is filled with existential dilemmas, meditations on time and memory, and eardrum-bursting scores. They were also, until "Oppenheimer," mostly sexless affairs. But the biopic delves into J. Robert Oppenheimer's (Cillian Murphy) relationship with Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh), leading Nolan to branch out. The director explained to Insider, "Well, when you look at Oppenheimer's life and you look at his story, that aspect of his life, the aspect of his sexuality, his way with women, the charm that he exuded, it's an essential part of his story."

In the controversial scene, Tatlock interrupts their tryst to leaf through the Bhagavad Gita — a famously normal coitus interlude — and asks Oppenheimer to translate a section, whereupon he delivers his famous line: "Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds."

For right-wing figures in India, the inclusion of the holy Hindu scripture in a sex scene was considered sacrilege.

Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party were quick to censure "Oppenheimer" for, in their estimation, sullying the Bhagavad Gita. As reported by CNN, one politician called the film a "disturbing attack on Hinduism" as well as "part of a larger conspiracy by anti-Hindu forces."

During the film's opening weekend, India's Information Commissioner, Uday Mahurkar, took to Twitter to implore Christopher Nolan to remove the scene. "[T]his is a direct assault on religious beliefs of a billion tolerant Hindus," the statement reads. "[I]t amounts to waging a war on the Hindu community and almost appears to be part of a larger conspiracy by anti-Hindu forces." He also noted that failing to remove the scene "would be deemed as a deliberate assault on Indian civilisation."

In addition to calls for the scene's removal, Indian theaters have already censored parts of the film. In one sequence, Pugh's Tatlock sits naked in a chair as she talks to Oppenheimer across the room. The censored version covers her body with a CGI black dress. Per Variety, the same measures have been taken in Middle Eastern theaters.

Despite outcries from right-wing groups, "Oppenheimer" has received critical acclaim in India, with India Today calling it "easily the best film of 2023." According to Reuters, it has also grossed more than $7 million among Indian audiences in its opening weekend.