*** Some Spoilers ***

Don’t expect anything new out of the new Indiana Jones movie. Lucas, Spielberg and Ford get together and revive the franchise after Indy rode off into the sunset couple of decades ago in the Last Crusade. The movie is set in 1957. Everything is intact – Indy’s penchant for adventure, street smart skills, ability to get in and out of tough situations, puzzles in ancient languages, Indy’s hatred for snakes, exotic half naked natives and even more exotic gods, temples and pyramids, thrown in with mind control and other supernatural elements and, above all, aliens. The Nazis are replaced by the KGB, a team of whom is headed by Cate Blanchett in a Rrrrrrrrrussian accent. The story is set around 18 years after Raiders of the Lost Ark since Indy now has a greaser sidekick, Mutt, that age. Mutt is the son of his flame, Marie (Karen Allen) from the Raiders of the Lost Ark movie. The movie ends showing Marie’s son, Mutt, played by Shia LeBeouf (Disturbia, Transformers) as a possible replacement for Ford. Couple of desi connections/references: Mutt learns to swing from tree to tree from a bunch of macacas, sort of a Western Mowgli. Indy makes a “destroyer of worlds” quote and refers to the Hindu Bible, presumably a shoutout to J. Robert Oppenheimer quoting the Bhagavad Gita. Not coincidentally, there is a nuclear explosion in the movie, which Indy survives, of course, by hiding in a lead refrigerator. Who says lead is bad?
As for the movie, basically, it’s a good ole’ Indiana Jones flick from the 80s with the potential for more sequels with Shia LeBeouf, replacing Harrison Ford. My biggest complaint with the movie, the Indiana Jones theme song plays times ad nauseum until Harrison Ford’s voice starts sounding like Tansen singing the Raga Malhar. I’m not sure why it’s getting the standing ovations it received at Cannes and even at movie theaters here but Indy is certainly a decent weekend movie at the cinema with the entire family. We had a friend’s 7 year old with us and the only scary part in the movie for the kid was when a man gets eaten alive by ants. Otherwise, total entertainment for the entire family. Give it a pass if you’re looking for material to simulate your neurons – even the puzzles are not half as interesting as the ones in the Last Crusade.

Why and how should Hindus protest this movie? – If you desire free tickets – desi ishtyle. Become a Hindu fundamentalist and protest the references to the Bhagavad Gita as the Bible, which as we all know is against “Indian culture” and a blow to out already super-fragile egossensiblities. Who knows, you may very well end up with free tickets, as some people have successfully done with “The Love Guru”. p.s. Don’t forget to mention your entire family was offended.

Note:
Browsekid Sidhu and I agree on most points – the unnecessary standing ovations and the incessant playing of the theme song, for instance.

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