Claim: Indiana Jones has been portrayed by Harrison Ford.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a 1984 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg . It is the second installment in the Indiana Jones franchise and a prequel to the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark , featuring Harrison Ford reprising his role as the title character . After arriving in North India , Indiana Jones is asked by desperate villagers to find a mystical stone and rescue their children from a Thuggee cult practicing child slavery , black magic and ritual human sacrifice in honor of the goddess Kali .   Executive producer and co-writer George Lucas decided to make the film a prequel as he did not want the Nazis to be the villains again . After three rejected plot devices , Lucas wrote a film treatment that resembled the film 's final storyline . Lawrence Kasdan , Lucas 's collaborator on Raiders of the Lost Ark , turned down the offer to write the script , and Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz were hired as his replacements , with the screenplay partly based upon the 1939 film Gunga Din .   The film was released to financial success but mixed reviews , which criticized its violence , later contributing to the creation of the PG-13 rating . However , critical opinion has improved since 1984 , citing the film 's intensity and imagination . Some of the film 's cast and crew , including Spielberg , retrospectively view the film in a negative light , partly due to the film being the darkest and most overtly violent Indiana Jones film . The film has also been the subject of controversy due to its portrayal of India and Hinduism .