 Amrish Puri as Mola Ram : A demonic Thuggee priest who performs rituals of human sacrifices . The character is named after a 17th @-@ century Indian painter . Lucas wanted Mola Ram to be terrifying , so the screenwriters added elements of Aztec and Hawaiian human sacrificers , and European devil worship to the character . To create his headdress , make @-@ up artist Tom Smith based the skull on a cow ( as this would be sacrilegious ) , and used a latex shrunken head . 
