Kali (character)

Kali is a character featured in the 1984 film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. She is the goddess revered by the Thuggee cult, a fictionalized depiction of a historical religious movement. The Thuggee, led by Mola Ram, worship Kali through ritualistic human sacrifice and seek to restore her power.

The film portrays Kali as a destructive and vengeful deity. The Thuggee believe that by retrieving the Sankara Stones and offering human sacrifices, they can bring about the destruction of the British Empire and restore Kali's dominance. Key elements of Kali's depiction in the film include the image of a stone statue, chants invoking her name, and the dramatic heart-removal ceremony performed in her honor. While drawing inspiration from Hindu mythology, the film's depiction of Kali is controversial due to its negative and arguably inaccurate portrayal of the goddess and associated religious practices. The film's depiction of Kali significantly deviates from the multifaceted understanding of her within Hinduism, where she is also viewed as a symbol of creative power and maternal love, not solely as a figure of death and destruction.