While Spielberg's initial foray into India was rather innocuous, his second caused blood to boil in this country.
1984's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the second of the series, was largely set in 1930s India, and played on almost every negative stereotype of Hinduism held by the West.
The baddies are indeed the very personification of evil: black-hearted, filled with blood lust and always eager for a meal of monkey brain.
The controversy compelled Steven to move the filming to Sri Lanka rather than India, and the villagers speak Sinhalese rather than an Indian language. Also, Mr India star Amrish Puri, left, was the film's main antagonist, Mola Ram, a Thuggee high priest, who uses child slavery and mind control as means to achieve his nefarious ends.
In recent interviews, Spielberg has intimated that George Lucas was the man behind Temple of Doom, and that he, Spielberg, played but a bit role in the film's execution.
Advertisement
