- “The British in India will be slaughtered. Then we will overrun the Muslims. Then the Hebrew God will fall, and then the Christian God will be cast down and forgotten. Soon, Kali Ma will rule the world.”
- ―Mola Ram[src]
Mola Ram is the Thuggee high priest and main antagonist of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. He has made Pankot Palace his lair and wants to use the five Sankara Stones to set up the reign of Kali. To that end, Mola Ram enslaves the children of a village that had one of the Stones (the taking of it bringing his total to three). They mine for the other two and for gems to fund his cause in catacombs underneath the palace. He also brainwashes people, including local politicians and royalty, with the "blood of Kālī Ma"—a magic potion—to make them devout followers (unless they are exposed to extreme pain, such as a burn). Indiana eventually confronts Mola Ram over a nearby gorge, calling on the power of Shiva to use the Stones against the evil cleric, who is burned by them and falls into the river, where he is devoured by crocodiles. In the novelization Ram's death is the same, but he returns to normal when he burns his hand on the stone; Indy tries to pull him to safety, but Ram falls to his death.
Mola Ram is named after an 18th-century Indian painter. Lucas wanted Mola Ram to be terrifying, so Huyck and Katz added elements of Aztec and Hawaiian human sacrificers, and European devil worship, to the character. To create his headdress, make-up artist Tom Smith based the skull on a cow (as this would be sacrilegious) with a latex shrunken head. Puri was chosen as Spielberg and Lucas did not want to cast a European actor and apply dark make-up. In the role, Puri resembles Eduardo Ciannelli, who played the cult leader in Gunga Din, an inspiration on the film.
In an early script of the movie, the burning Sankara Stones actually release Mola Ram from the same "Black Sleep of the Kali Ma" he inflicts on Jones before falling to his death, hinting that he may not have been in control of his actions. It was also intended that Mola Ram, after falling from the bridge, be killed by landing on the embankment below, followed by the crocodiles tearing apart his corpse. However, this script was scrapped and rejected.
A 6-inch (15 cm) action figure and an unpainted metal miniature of Mola Ram was released in 1984. In 2008, Hasbro released several Mola Ram items as part of their Indiana Jones toy line, including a 3.75-inch (9.5 cm) action figure, an Adventure Heroes figure, and a Mighty Muggs figure. A "One Coin" (caricature) figure of Mola, standing 1.97-inch (5.0 cm) was released in Japan in 2008.
Appearences[]
He wears an Indian-styled ceremonial headdress which was used in own personal ceremonies with the appliances of dark make-up and Indian-based thuggee uniform.
Personality and traits[]
Mola Ram was a strong worshipper of the Hindu Goddess of Death, Kali, and was devoted to conquering the world and ruling it in her name. He was also highly devoted to the Thuggee cult that he led, and wished to make them, and himself, all-powerful. He showed himself to be a cruel, heartless, sadistic, ruthless, psychopathic, power hungry and even genocidal man. He enjoyed, and was happy to cause, the suffering of others, sacrificing innocents in horrific ways, torturing his enemies and brainwashing them into becoming his subordinates, and even kidnapping innocent children and enslaving them to support his cause. Mola Ram also disregarded his own allies, throwing one of them to his death and even chuckling at his demise.
Behind the scenes[]
Mola Ram was portrayed by the late Amrish Puri in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Stuntman Frank Henson served as Puri's double for the scene of the bridge collapsing. Puri was working on two Bollywood productions when he was offered the role of Mola Ram, so production had to adjust the shooting time in London and India to enable Puri to play Ram. Though he is the main antagonist, Mola Ram does not appear until an hour into the film. The character is named after an 18th-century Indian painter.
In early drafts of the story, the burning Sankara Stones actually release Mola Ram from the same Black Sleep of the Kali Ma he inflicts on Indiana Jones before falling to his death, hinting that he may not have been in control of his actions. It was also intended that Mola Ram, after falling from the bridge, be killed by landing on the rocky embankment below, followed by the crocodiles tearing apart his corpse. Although cut from the film, it's depicted in James Kahn's novelization and comic book adaptations. When Mola Ram is eaten, the Wilhelm scream can be heard. George Lucas wanted Mola Ram to be terrifying, so the screenwriters Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz added elements of Aztec and Hawaiian human sacrificers, and European devil worship, to the character. To create his headdress, make-up artist Tom Smith based the skull on a cow (as this would be sacrilegious) with a latex shrunken head. Puri was chosen as Spielberg and Lucas did not want to cast a European actor and apply dark make-up. In the role, Puri resembles Eduardo Ciannelli, who played the cult leader in Gunga Din, an inspiration for the film. There were plans by Hasbro in 2009 for a 12" action figure of Mola Ram. However, the toyline was cancelled before one could be made.
In the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom arcade game, Mola Ram (who is never depicted without his ceremonial headdress) attacks Indy by throwing flaming hearts at him in stages where the player needs to take a Sankara Stone from the Temple of Doom. In the bridge stage, neither Ram nor his Thuggee guards survive Jones' collapsing of the rope bridge and they fall straight into the river (without showing any crocodiles). As in the film, Jones manages to cling to hold on to part of the bridge, which he uses to climbs up to reunited with Willie Scott and Short Round at the top. In the video game Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures, while he briefly appears during the story, he is never seen at the bridge stage (in which the bridge is never collapsed by Jones), but a similar character (or maybe him with another design), a Thuggee priest with red robes, appears to battle Indy at the end of the bridge, but Indy defeats him via whiping him to death.
LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures covers the plot points of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in broad strokes: Mola Ram still performs a sacrifice, topples the cistern to flood the mines and is defeated by Indiana Jones on the broken bridge. The game's sequel, however, takes a more liberal approach. LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues depicts Mola Ram and Maharajah Zalim Singh stealing the three Sankara Stones from Mayapore in Jones' presence. When Singh is returned to his senses, Ram uses the Black Sleep of the Kali Ma to animate and take control of the temple's large stone statue of Kali. The pair are led down to the rope bridge and the statue is eventually destroyed with Jones, the Maharajah, Short Round and Willie Scott escaping across the bridge in possession of the Sankara Stones. Mola Ram attempts to give chase wielding the Kali statue's head but the bridge collapses under their weight and Ram falls to his doom.
Mola Ram makes a cameo appearance in LEGO Star Wars: Bombad Bounty as one of the patrons of the Mos Eisley cantina. He can be seen bobbing his head to the cantina band's music until Han Solo shoots Greedo. Jar Jar Binks attempts to clean up afterwards but loses control of his vacuum cleaner and sucks Mola Ram as he attempts to flee.