Indiana Jones is set to return to theaters with his fifth film installment, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, set for release on June 30, 2023. Harrison Ford is confirmed to be reprising the titular role, and Ford v. Ferrari’s James Mangold is assuming the coveted directorial hot seat from the legendary Steven Spielberg, who became so synonymous with the franchise. Following Indy’s first outing in 1981, for Raiders of the Lost Ark, the revered trio of Spielberg, George Lucas, and Harrison Ford would go on to make a further two more entries in the 1980s and a fourth film with 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Update May 13, 2023: With the upcoming release of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, this article has been updated with more information regarding Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

The second film in the franchise, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, is actually a prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark and is one of the most polarizing in the franchise. While some, like Quentin Tarantino, consider it the best in the series, others think it the weakest film in the series, even more so than Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom had a great deal of controversy surrounding its release and has received a great deal of backlash today.

The Script Prevented Spielberg From Shooting In the South Asian Country

Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in a scene from Temple of Doom
Paramount Pictures

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom arrived in theaters in 1984 and grossed more than $333 million worldwide. But that didn't come without backlash from the masses. The graphic violence, for example, created an uproar for a film that was released with a mere PG rating and ultimately led to the creation of the MPAA's PG-13 rating.

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India, meanwhile, had a much more specific grievance with the film - namely, the illustration of its own culture. Although Spielberg had hoped to film in a South Asian country, the movie's script which leans into negative stereotypes of India and its people. Purportedly, a key stumbling block was government officials’ being strongly opposed to the employment of the word “maharaja.” In response, the Indian government prevented Spielberg and co. from shooting Temple of Doom in Indian territory. Instead, filming took place in neighboring Sri Lanka.

Depiction of the Indian People

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Paramount Pictures

During several stomach-turning scenes, the locals in the northern Indian village of Mayapore that Doctor Jones and his Temple of Doom companions visit are depicted enjoying a number of delicacies that mortified those who actually lived there. The scale of misrepresentation was flagrant at best and signified a level of disrespect the people of India were unable to overlook. From gorging on monkey brains and snakes to devouring beetles and eyeball soup, the portrayal understandably caused outrage among the community.

The film made use of an antiquated stereotype of foreign people engaging in philistine-like acts, more akin to our primitive ancestors. Pictured as uncivilized savages, it's rather unsurprising that the majority of Indians, as it turns out, didn't support such depictions. Following its world premiere, India’s authorities banned Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom from being screened in the country, citing the profanity on display and the gross negligence in the film’s representation of the Indian people.

The Misrepresentation of Religion

Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom- Mola Ram
Distributed by Paramount Pictures

Another form of such inaccurate delineation displayed the village people worshipping a demonic, almost godly spirit, Kali, despite the entire Indiana Jones franchise being marketed as a family-friendly, child-safe tale of exploration, including Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the graphic nature of one particular scene brought that claim into disrepute. In the said scene, those of this sinister god-worshipping Indian cult conduct a ritualistic ceremony where human sacrifice is offered and carried out, resulting in a gruesome death and the extraction of vital organs. Hardly soft-play.

Related: Indiana Jones: Where Does The Franchise Go After Harrison Ford?

Rather than serving as a destructive symbol of the underworld and evil, as shown in Temple of Doom, the Kali entity, in reality, is typically devoted more to change and empowerment and has even been championed over the years by feminists, with many believing that Kali is very much a feminist icon, with her being synonymous with non-conformity, and unbinding the ties of cultural constrictions placed on women.

Temple Doom Came At A Dark Point For Many

Temple of Doom (1)
Paramount Pictures 

Both Steven Spielberg and George Lucas have cited that Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom came from a dark place in their lives, resulting in the film's darker, more upsetting tone. George Lucas had recently divorced his wife, Marcia Lucas. Meanwhile, Spielberg was in a rocky relationship with actress Amy Irving, who had broken up in 1979 and got back together in 1984 and married the following year. Spielberg and Irving would later divorce, and Spielberg would marry Kate Capshaw, who he met filming Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom has a complicated legacy. One of its biggest supporters is Short Round actor Ke Huy Quan, who recently won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in Everything Everywhere All At Once. Quan says it is unfair to label the movie racist. Meanwhile, Speilberg has said that Temple of Doom is his least favorite Indiana Jones movie. With Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny so close to release, it is likely that there will be even further discussion on the entire franchise and specifically Temple of Doom, as audiences go back and revisit the other entries in the franchise.