The Deceivers

The Deceivers is a 1988 adventure film directed by Nicholas Meyer, starring Pierce Brosnan, Shashi Kapoor and Saeed Jaffrey. The film is based on the 1952 John Masters novel of the same name regarding the murderous Thuggee of India. Plot The film takes place in India in 1825. The country is being ravaged by Thuggees, a Kali-worshiping cult also known as "Deceivers", who commit robbery and ritualistic murder. Captain William Savage, an honorable district administrator for the East India Company, is informed by his subjects in Madhia about the Thugees' murder raids, and appalled, he opens a manhunt on them. He manages to capture a Thugee named Hussein and win his cooperation, but for acting on his own initiative, Savage's chief officer and father-in-law, Colonel Wilson, stubbornly adhering to Company protocol, dismisses his report and relieves him of his duty. Chagrined but determined, Savage decides to disguise himself as an imprisoned native outlaw, Gopal the Weaver, and get introduced into the Thugee cult by Hussein, with only his wife Sarah knowing about his plan. He is accepted, and after a period of training he is forced to participate in their raids. One day, however, Gopal appears at the fortress, revealing himself as a Thuggee, and in order to avoid being exposed, Savage is forced to kill him. This awakens in him a dark, ecstatic fascination for killing. Savage also discovers that certain East Indian Company officials know about the Thuggees' activities but let them pass through their districts in exchange for a share of their ill-gotten plunder. Fearing for Savage's safety, Hussein flees to inform Sarah of her husband's situation; but Thuggee infiltrators in the Company overhear them and capture Hussein before he can return to the fortress. With Savage's secret thus exposed, but with the Thuggees willing to accept him as one of their own, Savage is instructed to kill Hussein. Taking one of the Thuggees' children hostage, he forces his way out of the fortress, but Hussein is shot dead before he can get away. Savage flees into a field of reeds, where the Thuggees encircle him; but before they can kill him, East India Company troopers, alerted by Sarah's servant, arrive and defeat the Thuggees. Rehabilitated and promoted to colonel, Savage receives the official task of eradicating the Thuggee cult throughout India, although Savage must now struggle with the mental scars his time with the Thuggees and their bloodthirsty ways have left on him.