#thuggees

[indianmartialartsresearchgroup]

Book cover of "The Lost Warfare of India" book cover ⚔️ 🏹 This book is primarily based on the warfare sections of the nearly-2,400 year old Arthashastra text of scholar Chanakya. The first book of its kind. There's battle formations, strategy, spy classes, stealth, assassination tactics, weapons, battlefield black magic, etc. Illustrations too. Chanakya wrote this text long before the Japanese Shinobi-no-mono (aka Ninja) were even formed.

[pedroam-bang]

Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom (1984)

[templeofgloom]

catgirl behaviour >:3

[courseyoulovemeyoudontknowme]

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984, Steven Spielberg)

15/03/2024

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a 1984 adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. It is the second installment of the Indiana Jones franchise, a prequel to the film Raiders of the Lost Ark, with Harrison Ford reprising the title role. After arriving in India, desperate villagers ask Indiana Jones to find a mystical stone and save their children from a Thuggee cult that practices child slavery, black magic, and human sacrifice rituals honoring the goddess Kali.

Not wanting to present the Nazis as villains again, George Lucas, executive producer and co-writer, decided to treat this film as a prequel.

The film was released on May 23, 1984, to financial success, but initial reviews were mixed, criticizing its darker elements, strong violence and gore, as well as Capshaw's performance as Willie Scott; however, critical opinion improved over time, citing the film's intensity and imagination. In response to the film's more violent sequences, and with similar complaints about Gremlins, Spielberg suggested that the MPAA change its rating system, which it did within two months of the film's release, creating a new PG-13 rating. It won the Academy Award for best special effects.

A sequel, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade followed in 1989.

In 1935 Indiana Jones survives an assassination attempt by poisoning by Lao Che, a Shanghai crime boss and businessman who hired him to recover the remains of Emperor Nurhaci. With his young orphaned Chinese sidekick, Short "Shorty" Round, and a nightclub singer, Willie Scott, Indy escapes Shanghai on a cargo plane, unaware that the plane is owned by Lao Che. While the three sleep, the pilots dump the fuel and escape with parachutes, leaving the plane to crash into the Himalayas.

They are welcomed by the inhabitants of a impoverished Indian village, who ask for their help to recover the sacred stone (shivalinga) stolen from their shrine, together with their missing children, by evil forces in the nearby Pankot Palace. The inhabitants had prayed to the god Shiva for help, and when they saw Jones they believed him to be their savior.

Deviating on the road to Delhi, Indy, Willy and Shorty receive a warm welcome at Pankot Palace and are allowed to stay overnight as guests, partaking in a sumptuous, but revolting, banquet hosted by the young maharajah. His officials reject Indy's theory that the Thuggee cult is responsible for the poor village's fate. Indy discovers a secret tunnel in Willie's bedroom and sets out to explore it, overcoming a series of pitfalls. Eventually Indy, Willie and Shorty find the Temple of Evil, where they witness a human sacrifice made in the name of the goddess Kali.

Thuggee high priest Mola Ram forces Indy to drink Kali's blood, which puts him into a trance state where he mindlessly serves the cult. After recovering the stones, saving Willie and freeing the children, Indy fights a huge overseer, who is dragged into a crusher, crushed to death.

Then they come to a precarious suspension bridge over a crocodile-infested river, where they are surrounded by Thugs. Thanks to the intervention of Captain Blumburt and the army sent by the maharajah, Jones, Willie and Shorty are saved and the surviving Thugs are cornered and arrested by other soldiers.

From the first discussions regarding Indiana Jones, George Lucas expressed his intention to produce a trilogy and requested Steven Spielberg's commitment to direct three films. The first episode of the saga, Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), had only been released in cinemas for a couple of weeks when plans began for the sequel, which actually turned out to be a prequel, being set a year before the previous film.

[principiumindividuationis777]

[tenth-sentence]

The sword lifted and came down on the head of the thuggee farthest to the left, splitting his face open from forehead to nose.

"Incarnations of Immortality: Wielding a Red Sword" - Piers Anthony

[todayontumblr]

Friday, June 30.

Indiana Jones.

For Dr. Jones, every day is a good day for thumpin' Nazis. But some days it just hits particularly sweet. And would you look at that—it's only Friday, June 30, 2023, which can only mean one thing: it's the release of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny! Yay!

*cracks knuckles, whip*

Well, it's not just thumping Nazis that's on the cards, but nostalgia. Coming 15 years after the, well, best-forgotten fourth installment, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the latest film in the #indiana jones canon will in fact be the last. Or the curtain call for Harrison Ford as the iconic character, at very least. His daytime lecturer and night-time archaeologist Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr. is reluctantly thrust back into the action after seeking refuge in the quiet life of academia. After, *takes deep breath* Nazis and the Ark of the Covenant, The Thuggee Cult and the holy Sankara Stones, the Holy Grail and the Nazis (again), the Soviet Union and the Crystal Skull (*shudders*), Indiana is set to take up the fedora against the Nazis once more in search of the mysterious dial of destiny. This fifth film is in 1969 and finds an elderly Indy contending with the knowledge that the US space program has former Nazis in its ranks. Well, better get thumpin', friend!

That's it, folks. Happy weekend. Enjoy #indiana jones, the occasional thumpin', and enjoy the good things while they're there x

Ba-ba-ba-baaa, ba ba baaaaaa...

[balladedutempsjadis]

Ok. So first of all Kamal Hassan and Mani Ratnam and A R Rahman is going to be special. And then … finding out that Trisha, Jayam Ravi and Dulquer Salmaan are IN THE SAME MOVIE! (Ponniyin Selvan and Kundavai reunited!) (Not loving the name though - “Thug Life” - unless it’s a story about Thuggees - would be a “no, please reconsider”). But the trailer is pretty impressive!

And also I’m cracking up because last time we podcasted, I told @thirst4light that it was rumored DQ, Ravi and Trisha would be in this film but then I sort of forgot about it until she texted me this morning and told me. Haha! My internet stalking skills are better than I thought ;))

Also me idly wondering how long it would take me to watch all of Kamal Hassan’s movies since this one is #234 (!!!!) Maybe I’ll just watch Nayagan. The last one he did with Mani Ratnam THIRTY-SIX years ago.

[redhatmeg]

Yeah, this whole sequence in the Indian village is very white savor-y. When I watched this movie for the first time I didn't think about it all that much (but I sitll didn't like the dinner scene in Pankrot Palace; I never found "horrible looking foreign cuisine" trope all that funny... or smart), but over time I've learned about how offensive it is.

The Kali not actually being evil deity is what I've realized on my own, once I've learned more about Hinduism, but it was the Nostalgia Critic review of this move that brought my attention to Thuggees culture being bastardized here.

Needless to say, I completely understand the backlash.

Still, I've read that in the novelization at least some of those things were retconned or put in different perspective. Like, the Mola Ram is supposed to be a heretic that twists the Thuggees beliefs and that palace dinner scene is supposed to be an indicator that something bad is happening there. So I take those explenations.

[indoraptorgirlwind]

Wesen Moodboards

Phansigar (Urdu: To Hang Someone. Persian: Doer)

Phansigars were once affiliated with the Thuggees. However, Phansigars have their own specific rituals for human sacrifice. Every three years they sacrifice one man and one woman, usually a couple, to the goddess Kali by choking them with their tongues to knock them out, and then, after a ritual involving prayers in Hindi, the victims are buried alive.

These sacrifices take place in front of a giant idol built in the Phansigar's image. Phansigars consider the ground on which they commit these sacrifices sacred and will kill anyone who trespasses upon it. They also leave similar, smaller idols behind at the sites where they kidnap their victims.

Notables: JP, Adesh, Sharat, Det. Kate Masters

[pedroam-bang]

Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom (1984)

[templeofgloom]

Originally in the script stages of Temple of Doom there was a scene where we saw Indy who was brainwashed but still able to pretend he was normal. The way the reveals originally were intended was for us to see Indy getting captured, and Willie running off to get help, only for seemingly normal Indy to show up to tell her everything was okay and stop her from convincing the British officer there was a Kali cult.

But then it is revealed that Indy is actually brainwashed and evil now. It's very spooky.

But this was all cut and all we ever see of brainwashed Indy is him being clearly evil (and also shirtless).

And I was thinking of a story idea where the Thuggee cult decide to send Indy back to the US, undercover. Maybe they find out about some Kali religious thing or even a Sankara stone that is in an US museum and send Indy (with maybe Chattar Lal to keep an eye on him) to get it.

And it's up to Willie and Short Round to figure out something is off and stop and save Indy.

[aroundtheworldwithphillyfogg]

October 21st, 1872: On a train

The conversation fell again. During the night the train left the mountains behind, and passed Nassik, and the next day proceeded over the flat, well-cultivated country of the Khandeish, with its straggling villages, above which rose the minarets of the pagodas. This fertile territory is watered by numerous small rivers and limpid streams, mostly tributaries of the Godavery.

Passepartout, on waking and looking out, could not realise that he was actually crossing India in a railway train. The locomotive, guided by an English engineer and fed with English coal, threw out its smoke upon cotton, coffee, nutmeg, clove, and pepper plantations, while the steam curled in spirals around groups of palm-trees, in the midst of which were seen picturesque bungalows, viharis (sort of abandoned monasteries), and marvellous temples enriched by the exhaustless ornamentation of Indian architecture. Then they came upon vast tracts extending to the horizon, with jungles inhabited by snakes and tigers, which fled at the noise of the train; succeeded by forests penetrated by the railway, and still haunted by elephants which, with pensive eyes, gazed at the train as it passed. The travellers crossed, beyond Milligaum, the fatal country so often stained with blood by the sectaries of the goddess Kali. Not far off rose Ellora, with its graceful pagodas, and the famous Aurungabad, capital of the ferocious Aureng-Zeb, now the chief town of one of the detached provinces of the kingdom of the Nizam. It was thereabouts that Feringhea, the Thuggee chief, king of the stranglers, held his sway. These ruffians, united by a secret bond, strangled victims of every age in honour of the goddess Death, without ever shedding blood; there was a period when this part of the country could scarcely be travelled over without corpses being found in every direction. The English Government has succeeded in greatly diminishing these murders, though the Thuggees still exist, and pursue the exercise of their horrible rites.

At half-past twelve the train stopped at Burhampoor where Passepartout was able to purchase some Indian slippers, ornamented with false pearls, in which, with evident vanity, he proceeded to encase his feet. The travellers made a hasty breakfast and started off for Assurghur, after skirting for a little the banks of the small river Tapty, which empties into the Gulf of Cambray, near Surat.

Passepartout was now plunged into absorbing reverie. Up to his arrival at Bombay, he had entertained hopes that their journey would end there; but, now that they were plainly whirling across India at full speed, a sudden change had come over the spirit of his dreams. His old vagabond nature returned to him; the fantastic ideas of his youth once more took possession of him. He came to regard his master’s project as intended in good earnest, believed in the reality of the bet, and therefore in the tour of the world and the necessity of making it without fail within the designated period. Already he began to worry about possible delays, and accidents which might happen on the way. He recognised himself as being personally interested in the wager, and trembled at the thought that he might have been the means of losing it by his unpardonable folly of the night before. Being much less cool-headed than Mr. Fogg, he was much more restless, counting and recounting the days passed over, uttering maledictions when the train stopped, and accusing it of sluggishness, and mentally blaming Mr. Fogg for not having bribed the engineer. The worthy fellow was ignorant that, while it was possible by such means to hasten the rate of a steamer, it could not be done on the railway.

The train entered the defiles of the Sutpour Mountains, which separate the Khandeish from Bundelcund, towards evening.

[docgold13]

Is there a difference between a goon and a thug?

colloquially speaking, no... both terms mean basically the same thing. As an idiom, however, thug is more loaded.

The term 'thug' is derived from 'thuggee' or the Sanskrit phrase for concealment. Bands of Thugs were reported to bedevil English colonizers in Central India, although I'm imagine these accounts were sensationalized.

I decided to retire the term 'thug' from my own usage because I don't like the way it has been appropriated in conservative politics and media. Herein 'thug' is always used to describe some non-white group or individual who are viewed as doing something bad. It's kind of a modernized version of the n-word that pundits and politicos can use without fear of getting into trouble.

Thug is also frequently used in the lexicon of hip-hop. As much as I appreciate and enjoy rap and hip-hop, using its language as my own doesn't feel genuine.

of course all of this is needlessly pedantic, but perhaps other word-nerds might find it interesting

[pixelgrotto]

Indy's Greatest Adventures

I rewatched all of the Indiana Jones movies lately, coincidentally just in time for the trailer of the new one, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. After I replayed Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis last year and realized that Indy was way more of a tomb raider than I remembered him to be, I was a little nervous about revisiting these films. I needn't have worried too much - wonky portrayal of India aside, the movies still hold up well. There are colonial overtones if you bother to analyze things with a 2022 mindset, sure, but the truck chase scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark still has to be one of the best sequences I've ever seen on film. The same goes for the mine carts in Temple of Doom and the tank scene in Last Crusade. Even Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which I tolerate more than most, has a few moments of pulpy goodness, nuclear fridges aside.

This brings me to Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures for the Super Nintendo, one of the few video games that decided to capture the magic of all of Dr. Jones' then-current films. I first saw a screenshot of it as a kid in Issue #9 of The Adventurer, a magazine that LucasArts put out to advertise their products, and I thought it looked neat as hell. A game full of levels inspired by all three Indy movies?! Genius! I never actually played it as a child, since I didn't have a SNES growing up, but the concept stuck with me. And so after I finished watching the films I decided to give Greatest Adventures a whirl, since it's easily accessible by emulation these days.

The game, published by LucasArts but developed by Factor 5 and JVC Musical Industries, runs on the same engine as JVC's three Super Star Wars titles. I haven't played those, but a quick look online shows that they're renowned for being hard as hell and featuring levels that take quite a few liberties from what was in the movies. (Remember how Luke had to go toe-to-toe against a Sarlacc pit monster in the beginning of A New Hope?)

Greatest Adventures doesn't stray quite as far from the source material, though the last boss of the game is a goofy skeleton version of Donovan after he drinks from the wrong Holy Grail. For the most part, though, you've got traditional platforming stages inspired by most of the major moments in each film, like Indy exploring the Well of Souls, beating up Thuggees in the tunnels beneath Pankot Palace, and facing the traps leading up to the resting place of the Holy Grail. Every now and then you'll get a level that expands upon something not really seen in the films - for instance, a snow section that shows Indy in Nepal trying to reach Marion's bar. Then there are what I like to call "gimmick" levels that present you with a key moment from the movies, like Indy running from a giant boulder at the beginning of Raiders or avoiding gunshots in a nightclub in Temple of Doom, and these break up the standard platforming by forcing you to run forward to survive or duck behind cover. Finally, there are three levels that take advantage of the SNES' fancy Mode 7 chip, placing you in a 3D perspective. Temple of Doom gets two of these, mimicking the life raft plane jump in the Himalayas and the mine cart chase. Last Crusade gets the final one, presenting the moment when Indy and his dad escaped a zeppelin via biplane and had to shoot down some Nazis.

It's all standard SNES platforming goodness, though the game is pretty darn hard. Indy controls well (though for some reason his whip is a far better weapon than his gun) but as the game ramps up you can expect to find a lot of inconveniently placed enemies (like birds, a la Ninja Gaiden) designed to trip up your jumps and bleed your health meter. The latter Last Crusade levels in particular start putting you up against Nazi mechanics and guys from the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword who can throw wrenches and knives in a perfect arc that always seems to hit you, and it's a fine recipe for frustration. There's also one level where you've got to swing from your whip between the windows of Castle Brunwald, and man is it kind of impossible.

I also wish there was more of an equal distribution of levels between the three movies, since Raiders gets 12 stages while Temple of Doom and Last Crusade only get 8. Also, I would've liked to see Indy's sidekicks present. Greatest Adventures depicts the story of each film as kind of a streamlined alternate take where Indy's alone all the time, and while Marion and Professor Jones Sr. show up in cutscenes (and notably the Game Over screen), others like Short Round and Willie Scott are nowhere to be seen. Willie, I guess I can do without, but not including Short Round is a crime, especially when they could've easily designed a Mode 7 chase scene with him driving a car as Indy escapes Shanghai.

These quibbles aside, playing Greatest Adventures with save states neutralizes a lot of the frustration, and for an Indy fan, there's much to like here - from the lovingly-recreated John Williams score to the occasional stage that really rewards fans of the movies. For instance, Raiders' infamous swordsman in black shows up at the end of the game's Cairo levels, and instead of proving to be a major boss encounter, all you've got to do is shoot him once to move on, just like in the film. There's also a Last Crusade boss battle aboard a tank where you can't use any other weapons but your fists to punch Colonel Ernst Vogel into submission, and you've got to do it before the tank rolls off a cliff, too. Good attention to film detail there!

The era of licensed video game tie-ins for films is more or less over, so I doubt we'll see anything in the form of electronic entertainment when Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny comes out. (Bethesda does have the Indy license and is supposed to deliver an original game that might coincide with the movie's release, but they've been silent on that front for a year, so we'll see what happens.) With this in mind, I do recommend giving Greatest Adventures a run-through if you've got a high tolerance for old-school platforming or at least want to relive Indy's glory days before the new movie releases. Along with Fate of Atlantis, it's probably the only 2D Indy game worth replaying by today's standards.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

They don’t make movies like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom anymore - for multiple reasons. Certain aspects of this film will take modern movie-goers aback. You can focus on the dubious cultural depictions, violence and gross-out humor or you can divert your attention to what works: the never-ending tension, action scenes & set pieces, cinematography and the ever-charismatic lead.

In this prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) narrowly escapes from crime boss Lao Che (Roy Chiao) with his eleven-year-old sidekick Short Round (Ke Huy Quan) and nightclub singer Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw). Unfortunately, they soon find themselves stranded in northern India, where many children have gone missing and a sacred stone - one of the five fabled Shankara stones - has been stolen. Their quest to unravel the mystery brings our heroes to an ancient Thuggee cult who practice dark magic and ritualistic human sacrifices.

In a way, this picture is much lighter than Raiders. We’re not dealing with Nazis. Indy and his little buddy are going up against India’s equivalent of devil-worshippers but the villains are firmly planted in the realm of fantasy. There are many jokes as the boys playfully bicker and roll their eyes at Willie, who has no business being on this adventure but wound up alongside them. Over and over, she’s screaming at the bugs, skeletons, traps and dangers they encounter. The duo would be much better off without the dumb blonde… but abandoning her would be irresponsible. She’s nothing like Karen Allen's Marion and the film makes that clear. If Willie's going to complain about being away from the city, let's give her a real reason to - which means lots and lots of ewwww moments. This is where people might raise an eyebrow. There’s a famous banquet scene where the most stomach-churning foods are served. You may interpret it as a) an implication that all Indians are barbarians that eat eyeballs and snakes (although the good villagers we meet early-on definitely do not) b) an elaborate gag that may or may not resonate with you (humor is subjective, after all) or c) hints that something at this palace is amiss…

Despite the initial tone, this is an intense movie. There are torture and grisly human sacrifices, children are kidnapped/enslaved, people are explicitly killed - often in gruesome manners. The tone is far too intense to be rated PG but it was. The PG-13 rating was only introduced after the MPAA got similar complaints from Gremlins just one month later.

This film isn't as mature as its "successor" and it doesn't feel as polished either, though the filmmaking is still excellent. Once Indy and the gang realize the danger they've stumbled upon, the tension never lets up. Every escape is merely a brief reprieve. A new peril rolls around the next corner, ready to flatten them. It's fast-paced and exciting. Along the way, you also get excellent cinematography and camerawork. The shots which contrast Short Round to his big buddy are terrific. Through quick cuts and parallel actions, the camera says more than words ever could. It's a roller-coaster ride - sometimes literally. You'll be left breathless and maybe even overwhelmed. Is the movie for kids? maybe, maybe not. It's somewhere in between.

Often violent & gruesome and lacking some of the sophistication of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a disappointment... but only for this franchise. As a film on its own, or as a "first entry" in a series, it would make you go "wow!" Dated elements aside, it's exciting, memorable and fun. (On Blu-ray, May 22, 2020)