Drama over Bawaal scene but no backlash over controversial Oppenheimer Bhagavad Gita scene: Why white worshipping is a big problem!

Rashita Sahni

July 26, 2023
3:46 pm
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Why the Indian audience is creating 'Bawaal' over Varun Dhawan's film while the controversial Oppenheimer gets a green pass!

Comparisons between Hollywood and Bollywood keep blowing up every now and then. Be it mocking Hindi horror films or bashing superhero films made in India, our audience never takes a back seat when it comes to judging Indian content. But where does this criticism, judgment, and sensitivity go when a Hollywood film is concerned?

Yes, I am talking about the highly-appreciated Christopher Nolan film Oppenheimer which opened in cinemas on July 21, 2023. A scene from the biographical drama about US physicist Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) shows the protagonist reciting a verse from the Bhagavad Gita just before sexual intercourse. Bhagavad Gita is considered to be one of the holiest scriptures of Hinduism. This does come across as a direct assault on the religious beliefs of a billion tolerant Hindus. If this was a Hindi film, it would have undoubtedly amounted to waging a war on the Hindu community. But our audience is rather busy bashing Nitesh Tiwari’s recently-released Amazon Prime Video film Bawaal for not handling something like World War II with more sensitivity.

Varun Dhawan in Bawaal

This isn’t the first time the Indian audience has teamed up together against a project. We have various examples where several films have been banned, boycotted, and blamed for ‘hurting Hindu sentiments/religious beliefs’. While taking cinema and something that is fictional too seriously is anyway a wrong approach, what puts me into a bigger thought is the hypocrisy of our very audience. Where does the same section disappear when something as big as Bhagavad Gita being mentioned in a sex scene takes place? A certain section on the internet has been furious about this, won’t deny but not with the same impact and density. Remember the entire uproar over all that was wrong with Om Raut’s Adipurush or the hate that was spread for Shah Rukh Khan-Deepika Padukone’s Besharam Rang from Pathaan.

Oppenheimer Bhagavad Gita Scene Controversy

Varun Dhawan takes a sly dig at Oppenheimer

Varun Dhawan, who headlines Bawaal opposite Janhvi Kapoor, recently took a sly dig at the audience for not being overly sensitive about a film like Oppenheimer but slamming his film for talking about World War II. He told a leading Bollywood website, “Some people got trigged or sensitive about this. But I don’t understand where does that sensitivity or trigger go when they watch, suppose an English film, I’m saying for example. They’re allowed to do everything there, they’re allowed to take leaps and they’re allowed to show things in a certain way, but you’ll find that correct.”

Without directly mentioning Oppenheimer, Varun further added, “I know people have got very triggered after watching a small scene in a brilliant film, recently released. It’s a scene that’s important to our culture and our country. But that’s okay for you. You don’t feel they should be more sensitive to you? So where does your criticism go then?”

What led to the big ‘Bawaal’

For the unversed, one of Bawaal’s controversial quotes comes from a Holocaust survivor who claims that “every relationship goes through its Auschwitz,” alluding to the notorious concentration camp operated by Nazi Germany where untold numbers of Jews were murdered. Another controversial statement made by Janhvi Kapoor‘s character claims that every person is a Hitler since they are all greedy. Netizens have been pointing out how insensitively some of the dialogues in the film are casually drawing comparisons to something as terrifying and heartbreaking as the World War II.

Bawaal

White worshipping amongst Indian audience

But that’s not what usually happens with Hollywood films, all thanks to white worshipping which has always been a thing. If we take a trip down the memory lane, we will realize how action films have always been welcomed with gush but Indian action movies have been bashed mercilessly. No one has ever taken into consideration the fact that our movies are mostly made on a budget that is 1/100th of a Hollywood film. Despite that, our content has often been reduced to ridicule and laughs.

A recent example is Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One that released on July 12 and had scenes glaringly similar to Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan that released months before the Hollywood actioner but no one made a big cry about it. We can only imagine what the condition would have been had the situation been the opposite.

And well, while many actors choose to keep mum about situations like these, Varun spoke about this ‘white worshipping’ issue openly and rightly took a stand. Awaiting the day when more people from the Indian film industry take the right stand against blind Hollywood worshipping & call it out whenever necessary.