‘Read Bhagavad Gita’, Says Oppenheimer Actor Cillian Murphy As He Recalls His Role

After orchestrating Interstellar and Inception, Christopher Nolan’s much-anticipated directorial and another visual masterpiece “Oppenheimer” has been released in India. The movie’s trailer has been creating a buzz for quite some time. The young and the old are extremely delighted to see the “Peaky Blinders” star doing his magic once again in a Historic-Political drama.

However, the Indian fans were pleasantly surprised after the Oppenheimer actor, Cillian Murphy, said, “I read Bhagavad Gita while preparing for the role”.

Cillian Murphy, in and as Julius Robert Oppenheimer:

Often credited as the “father of the Atomic Bomb”, Oppenheimer revolves around the story of the famous American physicist, Julius Robert Oppenheimer. The 3-hour intense and thrilling movie focuses on Oppenheimer’s involvement in developing the atomic bomb during World War II.

Cillian Murphy, who is essaying the role of Oppenheimer, revealed in an interview with film critic Sucharita Tyagi that he read the sacred Hindu scripture, Bhagavad Gita, while preparing for the film. The film’s stellar cast also includes Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr and Florence Pugh.

Julius Robert Oppenheimer was the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory in the US and worked on the “Manhattan Project” to harness nuclear energy in 1942. After a string of failed efforts, he created the world’s 1st atom boom, “Trinity”. In the 1965 NBC news documentary, “The Decision to Drop the Bomb”, Oppenheimer shared his experience of recalling a quote from the Bhagavad Gita in the immediate aftermath of successfully testing the bomb.

The Sanskrit verse invoked, “Now I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds”.

Here’s what Oppenheimer said:

During the Interview, the actor stated, “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 with a lot of consolation all his life”. When asked whether the Bhagavad Gita influenced Mr Murphy and what were his learnings, he mentioned, “Well, don’t grill me on it! I just found it very beautiful.”

Contrarily, Indian mythologist and writer Devdutt Pattanaik challenged Oppenheimer’s interpretation of the Sanskrit verse and said it is misconstrued from the original ancient text. He explained that the actual translation of the Supreme Lord’s words is, If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst into the sky, that would be like the splendour of the Mighty One… I become death, the destroyer of worlds.”