The time....1825. The place..... India. A secret society, known as the Tuggees, preys on unsuspecting travelers throughout India. Fanatical worshipers of the goddess Kali, this group of vicious killers has been active for centuries. Tuggees, also known as Deceivers, slay their victims with ritual strangulation, and are so skillful at concealing their crimes, that they are never discovered.

The British, who control India at this time, ignore rumors of the disappearance of hundreds of travelers, thinking this is a problem for the local populace to solve.

Enter the earnest and morally upright Capt. William Savage (Pierce Brosnan). One night he stumbles upon a massacre of a group of travelers. Barely escaping with his own life, he reports this ghastly event to his superior officer. His report is dismissed out of hand and he is ordered out of the district because he is thought to be a trouble-maker.

Stung by his dismissal, Savage decides to go undercover to prove his story. He is able to do this because he speaks several native dialects fluently. He dyes his skin, and with the assistance of a turncoat Tuggee, Hussein (Saeed Jaffrey), he is able to join the band of ruthless assassins.

The movie describes the methods of the Tuggees very accurately. They approach travelers on the road and ask to join their party for mutual protection against bandits. After traveling together for a day or two, friendship is established and good fellowship reigns supreme. Then, when the time is right, the Tuggees swiftly and efficiently garrote everyone in the targeted party. No one is left alive. The dead are relieved of their valuables and the bodies are buried. No trace of the massacre remains.

The disguised Capt. Savage must participate in this ruthless activity to avoid detection, but eventually, as you might expect, he is discovered and........

Background Information:

This movie is based on a book by John Masters. The novel was roughly based on the efforts of a British officer, Sir William Henry Sleeman, to eradicate the Tuggees. Although he was born in Cornwall, Sleeman was proficient in four languages, Arabic, Hindustani, Persian and Gurkha. He also had studied the culture of India. He learned about the Tuggees, and tried to interest the British army in eradicating them. When this proved futile, Sleeman resigned from the army and became a civil servant, eventually becoming a magistrate. He then was able to embark on his mission against the Tuggees.

I could find no historical record of Sleeman actually joining the Tuggees as an undercover agent, but he indeed managed to induce a few Tuggees to become informants. In this, the movie was correct. Over the next few years, most Tuggees were captured or killed, thanks to these informants.

The Bottom Lines:

Although Pierce Brosnan went through all the motions, I did not find him convincing as a Tuggee, and found it unbelievable that he was undetected for so long by his unsavory companions. The film never explains how he maintains his dark skin over the weeks or months he is with the Tuggees. Or, when the spying episode was over, how he miraculously has his own skin color back. The end of this film falls flat and just runs out of steam.

The most believable performer in this movie was Saeed Jaffrey, who was marvelous in his portrayal of Hussein, the reluctant informer. He runs through the gamut of emotions: arrogance, reluctance, apprehension, acceptance. You could really empathize with everything he went through. (Jaffrey also gave outstanding performances in The Far Pavilions, Gandhi, and The Man Who Would Be King.)

The film had many interesting scenes showing local customs of that time and place. The execution of a thief by means of an elephant is not something one sees every day. There were a few sub-plots woven into this script. They dealt with Capt. Savage’s wife; a widow who wanted to commit suttee; and a fellow officer who was not exactly what a British officer should be.

This British-Indian movie was produced by Ismail Merchant in 1988.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age