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Chattar Lal

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"I am only his humble servant, but the Maharajah usually listens to my advice."
―Chattar Lal[src]

Chattar Lal was the Prime Minister of Pankot in 1935 and a secret Thuggee member.

Biography[]

Early life[]

"Dr. Jones, we are all vulnerable to vicious rumors. I seem to remember that in Honduras you were accused of being a grave robber rather than an archaeologist."
―Chattar Lal recounting one of Indiana Jones' old exploits.[src]

Born around 1900,[2] Chattar Lal claimed to have played in his childhood around a small Kali shrine located in the jungle between Mayapore and Pankot, his father often warning him to not let the statue claim his Atman (the Hinduist concept for someone's soul). He remembered those times as "luxurious", being surrounded by his family and his pets.[3]

Growing up, Chattar Lal became a graduate of Oxford University,[1] from which acquired a smooth English university accent[4] and not only heard of Doctor Indiana Jones, but had followed his career closely enough to be acquainted with the notorious side of his character,[5] including incidents occurred in Honduras[1] in 1933[6] and in Madagascar[1] two years before that.[5]

Joining the Thuggee[]

"I'm Chattar Lal, prime minister to his highness, the maharaja of Pankot."
―Chattar Lal introducing himselfes.[src]

Prior to 1935,[7] Chattar Lal became Prime Minister of Pankot[1] and was typically encountered within the boundaries of Pankot Province, acting as the "point-man" to the British authorities of the Raj.[7] After Mola Ram emigrated from Bengal to Pankot in search of three Sankara Stones,[5] he learned that Chattar Lal not only knew of Kali, but was willing to freely join the Thuggee and help their temple.[8] Soon after,[9] Lal became a member of the cult[1] and arranged for the young Maharajah Zalim Singh to unknowingly receive the Blood of Kali, so that he too would serve the dark goddess.[9] He used his knowledge and carefully cultivated supply of psychotropic herbs to bend the young Maharajah's will to the service of the goddess,[8] thus allowing the Thuggee to operate with impunity.[1]

By the mid-1930s, Lal served as Prime Minister to Maharajah Zalim Singh. As the Maharajah was still a minor, it was largely apparent that Lal took care of most of the day-to-day operations of the region. Well-spoken and outwardly demure, Chattar Lal seemed to have the makings of an able politician.[1] Lal also traveled freely about India to confer with the Crown's representatives, with whom he had many profitable contacts, and the general reputation of a sensible man who can "get things done".[7] If asked from where the gems of the Temple of Doom's mines came from, Lal would simply smile and make jokes about never revealing trade secrets.[10] He was well-versed in Western ways and customs, favoring Western styles of attire by day,[8] including a tailored Saville Row suit.[5]

One day, Lal arrived in the village of Mayapore, escorted by a large number of armed men,[8] where the Thuggee had stolen the local Sankara Stone.[1] He claimed to be an emissary of Mola Ram and explained that if the people of Mayapore would turn to the worship of Kali, then Mola Ram would see to it that no villager suffered from lack of food or water. He was told to leave the village, and never to return, and this he did, smiling as he went.[8]

The Temple of Doom[]

"Captain Blumburtt and his troops are on a routine inspection tour. The British find it amusing to inspect us at their convenience.(...) The British worry so about their empire. Makes us all feel like well-cared-for children."
―Chattar Lal introduces Blumburtt prior to the The Guardian of Tradition Dinner.[src]
Pankotmeeting

Chattar Lal greeting Indiana Jones.

In 1935, Chattar Lal greeted Indiana Jones his friends, who where on a mission to recover the Sankara Stone[1] for the people of Mayapore,[8] when they appeared outside the Pankot Palace gates. Later that day[1] Lal provided Willie Scott with a gorgeous silk gown,[4] showed them the two lavish rooms where they would stay[11] and conversed with Jones on the subject of the Thuggee while at a state dinner headed by the young maharajah[1] to honor Blumburtt for his regular patrol peace-keeping services.[10] At first, Lal dismissed reports of the Thuggee cult as stories Jones may have picked up from his time spent at the village, but when Jones persisted, Lal became outright defensive, recalling some of the archaeologist's disreputable past escapades in Honduras. Realizing the inappropriateness of criticizing his hosts, Jones apologized for shooting his mouth off, but not before the Maharajah made a sympathetic statement that at one time there were indeed Thuggees in his kingdom and their like would not return under his rule.[1]

Later, as Jones, Short Round and Willie Scott discovered the Temple of Doom below Pankot Palace, Lal was present in his Thuggee worshiping attire. As the trio was discovered[1] Willie escaped back into her room in the palace[3] while Indiana was restrained and brainwashed with the Blood of Kali.[1] Upon brainwashing the American, Lal took a liking to treat him as his student, being proud of his understanding of Mola Ram's Sanskrit speech.[3] Meanwhile Scott ran into Captain Phillip James Blumburtt and Lal, who was back in his formal attire. She began to tell them about the tunnel and the sacrifice temple. She led them back to her room and they saw the tunnel opening behind the secret panel in her room, but then Indy[3] (now under the cult's influence)[1] emerged and calmed her down until she falls asleep on the bed. He explained to Captain Blumburtt that they discovered the tunnel, but found nothing else. Indy and Lal related to the captain that Willie must had gotten scared in the tunnel, ran back to her bed and had a nightmare that she had thought was real.[3]

Shortly after, as Willie was going to be sacrificed, Lal assisted in the main temple. When Short Round escaped from slavery and arrived to rescue Jones, Lal fought with the liberated Jones, and briefly undid Jones' effort to raise the cage containing the sacrifice victim, Willie Scott. Despite wielding a large knife, Lal was defeated, thrown over the large wheel controlling the winch, and was seriously crushed by the whee,[1] appearently fatally being crushing him[8] and stopping Scott from being lowered in to the fiery pit. Lal's body was moved out from under the wheel, so that Jones could re-raise Scott to safety. However, while Jones and Short Round helped free Scott,[1] Lal apparently made his getaway.[8]

Escape from justice[]

Though injured in the battle, Chattar Lal escaped the palace with a good amount of stolen treasure. The British then kept a vigilant eye out for Lal should he try to establish another Kali temple.[8][7] Now a wanted man, the British offered a $1,000 reward for his capture. The prince would just as soon forget he ever knew the man and ordered Lal to be put to death if he ever entered the Maharajah's province again. It was believed that Chattar Lal left the area with several thousand pounds in gold, diamonds and jewelry, some stolen from the Palace. No one believed he had left India, mainly because nearly all the major train stations and ports had security forces watching for him.[8]

Legacy[]

As Zalim Singh was only a boy when he assumed his leadership role, many since had called his rule a puppet show, for the strength of his advisors such as Chattar Lal compared to the boy, as the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation noted on Indiana Jones' journal in one of the pages about his adventure against the Thuggee.[12]

Personality and traits[]

Lalwithknife

Chattar Lal in his Thuggee robes.

In conversation,[1] Chattar Lal appearaed as a distinguished-looking man with a smooth English university accent and the silken manners of his native Far East.[4] He had a dry, acerbic wit, which he used to deflect any unpleasant inquiries made about Kali-worship or other improper acts taking place in his province.[8] Though unfailingly polite on the surface and unlikely to raise his voice in anger, he sometimes revealed a glimpse of the steely resolve that lies beneath,[1] subtly insulting Phillip James Blumburtt through a jab he made with a smootly pleasant tone and silkily snide voice, but knew how to disguise his irritable demeanor under his diplomatic, professional equilibrium,[11] doing his best to sound warm.[3] If asked from where the gems of the Temple of Doom's mines came from, Lal would simply smile and make jokes about never revealing trade secrets.[10] Even before discovering his true allegiances, Indiana Jones felt that his syrupy, cheesy and overblown manners weren't trusting at all,[11] being such a disconcertingly charming host.[13]

Compared to other members of the Thuggee cult who were brainwashed through the Black Sleep of the Kali Ma,[1] Lal was among those who freely joined the cult. Lacking the charisma to command the masses like the High Priest Mola Ram, Lal tried to exert influence more subtly - the unseen puppeteer holding the strings of power. Though Lal was far from an imposing physical specimen, he possessed some training in the Thuggee arts and was more than willing to bloody his own hands for his holy cause.[8] Upon brainwashing Indiana Jones, Lal took a liking to treat him as his student, being proud of his understanding of Mola Ram's Sanskrit speech.[3] However, whether due to the effects of his Westernized upbringing or his own innate pragmatism, it appeared that Lal was not quite ready to die for Kali.[8]

In public,[1] Chattar Lal was in every way the picture of colonized India under British rule.[10] A tall man, Lal looked like a bespectacled, severe-looking Indian man dressed in an English suit, who looked courteously but suspiciously[3] when acting as Prime Minister. As a Thuggee, Lal donned purple and black robes.[1]

Behind the scenes[]

Chattar Lal was portrayed by veteran actor Roshan Seth in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.[1] Seth had recently come out of retirement from acting having given it up to write a journal, but accepted the role following his work on Richard Attenborough's 1982 film Gandhi and a David Hare play.[14] Seth later portrayed Sheikh Kamal for The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones television movie Tales of Innocence, edited from The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles episodes.[15]

Willie-and-lal

Willie Scott and Chattar Lal talking in a deleted scene

During the development of the film's script, written by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, there was a scene in which Willie Scott would try to inform Lal and Phillip James Blumburtt that the secret tunnel in her room leads to the Thuggee temple. However, Lal and later Indiana Jones, under the influence of the Black Sleep of the Kali Ma, dismiss her claims and Blumburtt leaves the palace with his men.[16] Director Steven Spielberg opted to cut the scene after Harrison Ford herniated a disc on his back, rendering him unavailable to shoot it.[14]

Spielberg originally intended for Chattar Lal to be an "Oxford-educated Indian smoothie who was a crook". However, Seth didn't know how to really deliver on the role in that way. In a retrospective collective interview with Empire in 2012, Seth acknowledged that with his new knowledge by that point, he would have been able to play the role just as Spielberg wished, in addition to how he got "a great deal of flak" for The Guardian of Tradition Dinner scene due to how he was asked how "an intelligent man like him would agree to be in a film which shows Indians feeding on beetles and eels". During filming, Seth felt somewhat attracted for Kate Capshaw (Willie Scott) and praised Amrish Puri (Mola Ram) for his performance.[17]

350x700px-LL-69e5f0ce deleted scene 2

Indiana Jones fighting Chattar Lal in a deleted scene.

In a scene cut from the film, Lal attempts to attack Jones in the Thuggee cavern but is knocked into the lava pit, killing him.[14] This is why the defeated Lal is absent from the background of the finished film.[1] Although not seen in the film, Lal's fate and the above mentioned deleted scene are included in James Kahn's novelization,[3] the storybook[18] and Marvel Comics' comic book adaptations.[19] Canonically, however, Lal is confirmed to have survived the events of the film.[8]

Deletedscene

A removed scene of Lal being lowered into the lava.

While Chattar Lal's role in the film's novelization, comic and storybook adaptations is the largely same as in the film, the Read-Along Adventures' adaptation reduced his involvement considerably. Instead, Lal only welcomes Indiana Jones and his friends to Pankot Palace and later disappears without an explanation from the narrative.[20]

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom: A Tale of High Adventure implies that Lal was among those controlled with the Black Sleep of the Kali Ma,[4] but the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Sourcebook and the Marshall College's entry indicate that he freely joined the cult and that he was not brainwashed.[8][7]

In LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, Indy and Short Round must rescue Willie Scott and defeat Lal whose body bursts into LEGO pieces when Indy triggers the heated floors Lal is standing on.[21] In the sequel, however, Lal is absent on most home consoles but still available to play in the portable versions.[22]

Appearances[]

Sources[]

Notes and references[]

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Chattar Lal's Marshall College entry states that Lal was in his mid-thirties in 1935.
  3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom novel
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom: A Tale of High Adventure
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide
  6. ↑ Indiana Jones and the Philosopher's Stone
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 IndianaJones.com Chattar Lal's Marshall College entry on IndianaJones.com (backup link on Archive.org)
  8. ↑ 8.00 8.01 8.02 8.03 8.04 8.05 8.06 8.07 8.08 8.09 8.10 8.11 8.12 8.13 8.14 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Sourcebook
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 IndianaJones.com Mola Ram's Marshall College entry on IndianaJones.com (backup link on Archive.org)
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (TSR)
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom junior novel
  12. ↑ The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones
  13. ↑ The Indiana Jones Handbook
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 The Complete Making of Indiana Jones
  15. ↑ The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones – Tales of Innocence
  16. ↑ Raiders of the Lost Drafts at TheRaider.net
  17. ↑ The Making Of Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom at Empire
  18. ↑ Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Storybook
  19. ↑ Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom comic
  20. ↑ Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Read-Along Adventures
  21. ↑ LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
  22. ↑ LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues
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