The trailer for the latest X-Men film, released this week, showing the villain Apocalypse being compared to Lord Krishna, has not gone down well with a Hindu group.
"I have been called many things over many lifetimes, Ra, Krishna and Yahweh," is a line from the movie wherein the adversary called Apocalypse identifies with Krishna.
Rajan Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, said in a tweet:
Comparing #Krishna to villain #Apocalypse in #XMenApocalypse trailer was inappropriate. Delete references to Krishna unless scripture based.
— Rajan Zed (@rajanzed) December 15, 2015
He said, “Lord Krishna was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not for pushing movies for mercantile greed of filmmakers. Inappropriate usage of Hindu deities or concepts for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees and confused non-Hindus about Hinduism.”
Zed added, “Hinduism was the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion adherents and a rich philosophical thought and it should not be taken frivolously. Symbols of any faith, larger or smaller, should not be mishandled.”
He felt that if the makers of the movie needed any training on Hindu customs, then he could provide the resources.
“If makers of “X-Men: Apocalypse” or other Hollywood executives needed any expertise on Hinduism related issues, he or other Hindu scholars would gladly provide the resources.”
The movie, with Oscar Issac playing the lead role, is scheduled to release in 2016.
Here is the trailer of the movie.