Will Smith & Matt Damon’s Underrated Film Turns The Bhagavad Gita Into A Soulful Sports Story (Photo Credit – Prime Video)
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Mythology has long inspired creators to develop their stories. From reimagined stories to artful adaptations, there is a long list of creative works based on mythological works that have catered to a varied audience niche. It is rare for Hollywood filmmakers to take inspiration from Indian myths and scriptures, and one such movie entirely reimagined the equation between Lord Krishna and Arjun from the Bhagavad Gita.
According to the film’s official synopsis, The Legend of Bagger Vance, starring Will Smith and Matt Damon, is loosely based on the Hindu scripture Bhagavad Gita. The movie reframes its spiritual conflict as a golf story starring Will Smith and Matt Damon. It is, in turn, based on a 1995 novel by Steven Pressfield.
The Bhagavad Gita parallels in The Legend of Bagger Vance
The Legend of Bagger Vance, directed by Robert Redford and starring Matt Damon as golfer ‘Rannulph Junuh’ and Will Smith as his mysterious caddie ‘Bagger Vance’, adapts the narrative of the Bhagavad Gita. In the Gita, Arjuna’s hesitation on the battlefield and reception of divine counsel from Lord Krishna are transformed into a golfing guru guiding a broken man back to his authentic swing.
In Steven Pressfield’s original 1995 novel, the parallels are explicit: Rannulph Junuh echoes Arjuna, and Bagger Vance, a homonym for Bhagavan, stands in for Krishna. The entire plot is a spiritual allegory, repositioned on a Depression-era golf course instead of a battlefield. As Bagger Vance guides Rannulph Junuh, he teaches him duty, devotion, and self-knowledge, which are some of the core themes of the Bhagavad Gita.
Steven J. Rosen’s Gita on the Green draws these connections out more explicitly, arguing that the book and film are modern-day commentaries on the scripture disguised as sports metaphors. The movie was not devoid of controversy upon its release. Empire Online quoted a spokesperson of the National Council of Hindu Temples:” Bagger Vance is a distortion of the Hindu word for God—Bhagavad.” The spokesperson also mentioned that it would be offensive “to see Will Smith on the screen being called what is the word for God.”
Beneath the veneer of Indian mythology lies a spiritual metaphor: every golfer (and by extension, every person) must re-discover their true path, align with their purpose, and act without attachment. That’s the essence of Arjuna receiving guidance from Krishna and Rannulph Junuh finding his swing with Bagger’s instruction.
