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Indra
12 May 2008, 03:10 PM
I watched today indian jones and the temple of doom. Indians and Hindus are presented as a bunch of evil devil worshippers who practice human sacrifice, are on drugs, drink human blood kill and murder people. In the movie the indians eat brain of apes, worms and maggots. They are present as evil, backwarded devils. Its a anti-hindu movie although i dont know much about indian traditional food i dont believe that indians eat brain of apes out of a ape head which is served in a can. I dont believe that indians practice human sacrifice, are on drugs and drink human blood. I think its a anti-hindu movie and it scares little children and creates hostillity in people towards indians and indian culture and religion. I believe in indian positive paganism not that indians are a bunch of devil worshippers equal to western satanist sects.

Indra
12 May 2008, 03:13 PM
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a 1984 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_in_film) adventure film (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventure_film) directed by Steven Spielberg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Spielberg). Released on May 23 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_23), 1984 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984), it is a prequel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prequel) to the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raiders_of_the_Lost_Ark).
Like Raiders, it starred Harrison Ford (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Ford) as Jones (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Jones), and was based on an original story by George Lucas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lucas). Many members of the original crew returned, including cinematographer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinematographer) Douglas Slocombe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Slocombe), editor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_editing#Film_Editor) Michael Kahn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Kahn_%28film_editor%29) and composer John Williams (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Williams). New additions to the main cast included actress Kate Capshaw (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Capshaw), who played the role of Wilhelmina 'Willie' Scott (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Scott) (Jones' second female lead following Karen Allen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Allen) as Marion Ravenwood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Ravenwood), in Raiders of the Lost Ark), and Jonathan Ke Quan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Ke_Quan) as Jones' 11 year old sidekick Short Round. It won an Academy Award for Visual Effects (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Visual_Effects).
Featuring themes of child slavery (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_slavery), and destructive cult (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destructive_cult) rituals, the film is darker in tone than its predecessor. The original story was intended to be a horror movie as well as a remake with elements of Gunga Din (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunga_Din_%28film%29) (1939 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1939_in_film)). The original title was Indiana Jones and the Temple of Death.
The film is also notable for the creation of the rating (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPAA_film_rating_system) category PG-13 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PG-13).[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Jones_and_the_Temple_of_Doom#cite_note-0)


Plot
Set in 1935 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1935), a year before Raiders of the Lost Ark (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raiders_of_the_Lost_Ark), the film opens with Indiana Jones in a Shanghai (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai) nightclub named Club Obi-Wan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obi-Wan), attempting to trade the remains of Nurhaci (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nurhaci) for a large diamond with a gangster named Lao Che (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lao_Che_%28character%29). When the deal goes bad and Indy's friend Wu Han is killed in the ensuing violence, Indy and the club's singer, Wilhelmina "Willie" Scott, escape the pursuing criminals in a car driven by a young boy named Short Round, an ally of Indy. They board a cargo plane, not knowing that it is owned by Lao Che. As Indy, Willie, and Short Round nap during the flight, the pilots dump the fuel and parachute out of the plane. Indy and the others use an inflatable emergency raft to descend safely from the plane.
After a dangerous ride down the Himalayan mountains (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himalaya) and a raging river, the trio eventually come to a desolate village in India (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India). The poor villagers there enlist their help in retrieving a sacred stone, the Sankara (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adi_Shankara) Stone or Shiva (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiva) lingam (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingam) stone, as well as the community's kidnapped children, from the evil forces of nearby Pankot Palace.
Initially, Pankot Palace seems normal enough, despite the grotesque food it offers its guests. Indy meets the royal tenants of the Palace, as well as other guests including Captain Blumburtt, an officer in the British Indian Army (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Indian_Army) who is in the area with his troops on exercises. The Palace residents are insulted by Indiana's questions about the villagers' claims, dismissing them outright. Later that night, however, Indy is attacked in his room by a would-be assassin, which leads him to seek and find a secret door. He, Willie, and Short Round make their way through the secret passage and discover a vast underground temple beneath the palace, where the village rock and two more are held by the Thuggee (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuggee). An evil cult who worship the goddess Kali (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali) with human sacrifice, the Thuggee have enslaved the village's children to dig for two remaining Sankara stones that are lost within the mines of the palace. Their villainous leader Mola Ram hopes to use the power of the five united Sankara stones to rule the world. During the revelation, the protagonists witness a gruesome sacrifice ritual where Mola Ram bare-handedly digs a man's heart out of his chest; the man survives, his heart beating in Mola Ram's hand, until he is lowered slowly into a lava pit.
Indy, Willie, and Short Round are captured by the Thuggee and separated. Indy sides with the Thuggee after being forced to drink the "blood of Kali Ma", a mind-control potion which puts the drinker into the "black sleep of Kali". Willie is kept as a human sacrifice, and Short Round is put in the mines alongside the village children as a slave laborer; however, Short Round breaks his bonds and escapes back into the temple, where Willie is tied up and being lowered into a lava pit. He helps Indy return to his normal self by using a torch to shock him from his trance. Although Mola Ram escapes through a trap door (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap_door), Indy and Short Round manage to save Willie, take the three Sankara Stones, and free the village children. In the fight to escape the palace, the three jump into a mine car and are closely pursued by two Thuggee-filled cars. Indy knocks the first car off the tracks with a board, but the second catches up to them. In the struggle, Short Round nearly falls into lava and a Thuggee jumps onto the back of their car. Willie delivers an unexpected punch that knocks the Thuggee back onto the track, whereupon the other car crashes into his body and derails.
Meanwhile, Mola Ram and others break the supports of a giant water reservoir, pouring the contents down the tunnels in an attempt to drown the three heroes. After Indy stops their mine car, they avoid the rushing water by running outside, only to find themselves stuck at the top of a sheer canyon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canyon). They try to cross a rope bridge but are trapped with the Thuggee on both sides. Taking a desperate gamble, Indy utters a warning in Chinese (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_language) to his friends to brace themselves. He then uses a sword to cut the bridge in half, sending many of the Thuggee plummeting into the crocodile (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crocodile)-infested river below.
Mola Ram and a few of his minions manage to cling to the heroes' side of the bridge. He fights with Indy for the stones; Indy invokes the stones' magic and causes Mola Ram and all but one of the stones to fall into the river, where the nefarious priest is ripped apart and devoured by crocodiles. The Thugee on the opposite side of the canyon however are in a position to shoot down the defenseless heroes. At that moment, Captain Blumburtt and his Indian troops appear to defeat the remaining Thuggee and save them. The heroes triumphantly return to the village with their sacred stone and their children.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Jones_and_the_Temple_of_Doom

jayswami
02 June 2008, 04:19 AM
Indra, this movie is from the 80s.. when india was perceived to me a communist sympathizer by USA. for the western world india was still a country of beggars and snake charmers. I dont thing hollywood can make a movie like this today and get away with it.. i dont think either lucas or spielberg would do it today. that said and done the thuggees do have a checkered past.. there cannot be smoke without fire.. though lot of skeptics today feel that the british ethnically cleansed the thuggess from the face of our planet. the portrayal of thuggees and hence kali in bad light has continued for some time... but i dont think you ought to feel offended or anyting by this movie.. you should be more secure about your own religion..
there are worse anti christian movies floating around and bollywood is no saint either when it comes to portraying other cultures in a bad light.. especially african cultures.. and what about the stereotypical bald and bad white guy? Because of the forced doctrine of secularism thrust upon the 2 billion people of india (census data is flawed) , thankfully india doesnt indulge in public display of religous mockery or intolerence.. but the same does not extend to nationality and race.. chinese and japanse are almost always showed in comic light.. in this 80s amitabh movie named desh premi.. they paint themselves dirty black
and sing words like "gore nahin hum kale sahee" implying africans are inferior.. etc etc

at the end of the day... these r just commerical movies...

Sahasranama
08 October 2010, 06:23 AM
I have just recently seen this movie and I don't think it was offensive. Human sacrifice to Kali is a sensitive topic in Indian history, but it did happen in the past. The rituals to sacrifice a human being are described in the kalika purana. In the bhagavata purana, jada bharata, a realised soul, was going to be sacrficed to Kali, before Kali herself interfered and killed of the people who were going to sacrifice Jada Bharata.

In movies history is always mixed with a lot of fantasy, for example look at the movie 300 or the gladiators. Human sacrifice has taken place in many cultures around the world. In this movie we can see that element of various cultures have been brought together to create an amalgam of occultic drama. You can see people dressed like aborignals, playing drums. This is obviously not how human sacrifice was conducted in India. The large gathering and the dropping down of the human sacrifice in a large hole are also borrowed from other cultures. Probably from the Aztecs who gathered around to sacrifice a human being to the Sun God.

The misconception that may arise from a movie like this is that Kali is an evil godess. That is not true, but the fact is that people have performed human sacrifice to Kali Ma and some misguided people are still sacrificing children in India. Is it offensive to display Kali in an ugra form with evil worshippers who sacrifice humans? I don't think so, it's not very different from Rama and Lakshman who were going to be sacrificed to the Godess by the rakshasas. Historically, these events have happened, but it is a sensitive topic. We also have to realise that this movie is just fantasy, not a historical document.

BryonMorrigan
08 October 2010, 06:57 AM
I have just recently seen this movie and I don't think it was offensive. Human sacrifice to Kali is a sensitive topic in Indian history, but it did happen in the past. The rituals to sacrifice a human being are described in the kalika purana. In the bhagavata purana, jada bharata, a realised soul, was going to be sacrficed to Kali, before Kali herself interfered and killed of the people who were going to sacrifice Jada Bharata.

In movies history is always mixed with a lot of fantasy, for example look at the movie 300 or the gladiators. Human sacrifice has taken place in many cultures around the world. In this movie we can see that element of various cultures have been brought together to create an amalgam of occultic drama. You can see people dressed like aborignals, playing drums. This is obviously not how human sacrifice was conducted in India. The large gathering and the dropping down of the human sacrifice in a large hole are also borrowed from other cultures. Probably from the Aztecs who gathered around to sacrifice a human being to the Sun God.

The misconception that may arise from a movie like this is that Kali is an evil godess. That is not true, but the fact is that people have performed human sacrifice to Kali Ma and some misguided people are still sacrificing children in India. Is it offensive to display Kali in an ugra form with evil worshippers who sacrifice humans? I don't think so, it's not very different from Rama and Lakshman who were going to be sacrificed to the Godess by the rakshasas. Historically, these events have happened, but it is a sensitive topic. We also have to realise that this movie is just fantasy, not a historical document.


Still...my kids aren't allowed to watch it...

IIRC, Steven Spielberg is somewhat embarrassed by the whole thing, not realizing when he made it that he was being so intolerant.

Sahasranama
08 October 2010, 07:18 AM
I can understand how this movie might leave a bad impression of Hinduism and India on children.

sanjaya
08 October 2010, 12:19 PM
Heh, I always love the two year old threads...

You know, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is one of my dad's favorite movies. We used to watch it back when I was a kid. We never felt personally offended, and we never got the impression that it was anti-Hindu or anti-Indian (and my dad is pretty religious). Sure, it's a white guy fighting off a bunch of evil Indian quasi-Hindu guys who sacrifice humans. There are lots of movies out there that use creative license to create an entertaining story. Hollywood often makes fun of whites, blacks, Christians, Jews, etc. Indiana Jones is just harmless fun (heck, I even liked that new movie with the aliens). If we're worried about poisoning other youth against Hindus, it would probably be better to look at what American churches teach about us. People hardly develop their world views on the basis of action flicks.

TTCUSM
11 November 2010, 02:23 PM
Still...my kids aren't allowed to watch it...

IIRC, Steven Spielberg is somewhat embarrassed by the whole thing, not realizing when he made it that he was being so intolerant.

Thiru Bryon,

Most Hindus in America (and quite a few Hindus in India) learn about their religion from their parents. If I were you, I would tell your kids about the Kali cult at some point.

That way, they won't get a nasty surprise from their friends or co-workers later in life. That's exactly what happened to Vineet Chander (http://news.iskcon.org/node/1639/2008-07-26/editorial_reluctant_defense_love_guru) of ISKCON:


Over the years, I’ve met more than a few ABCDs who have stories of how Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom – full of monkey-brain-eating Hindus and a murderous Kali-worshipping villain changed their lives. The stories differ in details (some were teased at school for a while, others so mortified that they hid their religion from their friends for years), but are all eerily similar in how traumatically the film affected how we looked at our faith. We’ve considered starting a support group for Temple of Doom survivors.