Roshan Seth, who played Chattar Lal, mentioned that the banquet scene was a joke that went wrong, saying, "Steven intended it as a joke, the joke being that Indians were so smart that they knew all Westerners think that Indians eat cockroaches, so they served them what they expected. The joke was too subtle for that film." In the script, a brief scene which did not make it into the film had Indiana Jones remarking "even if they were trying to scare us away, a devout Hindu would never touch meat. Makes you wonder what these people are ...", a hint that something was amiss in the palace.