Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer: American theoretical physicist's connection & fascination with Hinduism & Bhagavad Gita

The cinematic genius of the world cinema Christopher Nolan, who made impeccable and memorable movies like Memento, Prestige, The Dark Knight franchise, Tenet, Dunkirk, Inception, Interstellar and others, is currently gearing up for the release of Oppenheimer, which is based on the life of American theoretical physicist’s life J. Robert Oppenheimer, who is often credited as the “father of the atomic bomb”.

The film, which is set to hit the screens this Friday, is headlined by Cillian Murphy with Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr and Emily Blunt portraying key characters. The film is set to take a great opening despite clashing with Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling’s Barbie at the box office. In fact, the mega-budget film is set to take a huge opening in India as the buzz around Oppenheimer is humongous.

While fans are more than excited to witness this experience on the big screen, the fascination of J. Robert Oppenheimer towards Hinduism and Bhagavad Gita has been a talking point among the cinegoers.

He called the holy text book,“the most beautiful philosophical song existing in any known tongue.” He even learned Sanskrit to know the depth meaning of the book. “I believe that through discipline… we can achieve serenity… I believe that through discipline we learn to preserve what is essential to our happiness in more and more adverse circumstances… Therefore I think that all things which evoke discipline: study, and our duties to men and to the commonwealth, war… ought to be greeted by us with profound gratitude; for only through them can we attain to the least detachment; and only so can we know peace,” said the legend.

In 1965, he recalled the NBC news documentary The Decision to Drop the Bomb and said, “We knew the world would not be the same…few people laughed…few cried…most people were silent…I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture the Bhagavad Gita…Vishnu is trying to persuade the prince that he should do his duty and to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, now ‘I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds’”

In fact, Cillian, who is playing the character of Oppenheimer, also read Bhagavad Gita and said, “I did read the Bhagavad Gita in preparation, and I thought it was an absolutely beautiful text, very inspiring. I think it was a consolation to him, he kind of needed it and it provided him a lot of consolation, all his life.”