Upset at Bhagavad Gita mention in ’Oppenheimer’ sex scene, minister demand cuts

Mangalore Today News Network / NDTV

New Delhi, July 24, 2023: Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur today pulled up the film certification body, popularly called the censor board, over ’objectionable’ scenes in ’Oppenheimer’ film which released in India last weekend. Sources said Mr Thakur is upset at the Central Board of Film Certification over a scene in the film where a woman is seen reciting from the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu religious text, while having sex.

 

Questioning how it passed the certification body’s filters, Mr Thakur has asked for the scene to be deleted from the film. Sources say action could be initiated against some officials who are seen as responsible for it.

The biopic of Robert Oppenheimer, the mind behind the world’s first atomic bomb, released on Friday. While the film has set the box office ringing, the controversial scene in the Christopher Nolan epic has enraged some Indian movie-goers.

"One is perplexed as to how the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) could approve the film with this scene," said Uday Mahurkar, Information Commissioner with the government of India, sharing a press release by the ’Save Culture Save India Foundation’.

"A scene in the film shows a woman make a man read Bhagwad Geeta (sic) aloud while getting over him and doing sexual intercourse... This should be investigated by I & B Ministry on an urgent basis and those involved should be severely punished," the press statement by ’Save Culture Save India Foundation adds.

Oppenheimer is the first film directed by Christopher Nolan to have an R-rating. But India’s censor board gave the film a U/A rating after the studio cut some shots of the sex scene to reduce its length. According to reports, the cuts were made by the studio themselves because they did not think the censor board would allow the scene.