The Deceivers

Insecure young Englishman Savage (Brosnan) breaks colonial taboos by dyeing his skin to infiltrate the 'thuggees', a band of murderers dedicated to the goddess Kali. John Masters' novel is a great story, but the movie misses much of it. The opening set of clichés - a tiger hunt, a Gone With the Wind dance, a regimental wedding - give way to better film-making as the bizarre thuggery gets under way, but it's a case of too little too late for this shock-horror costume caper. Actors as powerful as Kapoor, Jaffrey and Keith Michell are reduced to hackneyed cameos, India looks like something out of a travel brochure, and blasting Hollywood-Viennese music ensures that we know it's a major motion picture.