The Fate of Chattar Lal

[smokin_si1138]

Sorry if this has been discussed before...

For years I've always wondered what happened to Family favourite and all round nice guy Chattar Lal.

We see him get thumped, fall over the wheel controlling the cage, get a few ribs cracked....

Then we see him crawl off.

Then we see him prone on the floor.

Then... dun dun dun! He's gone (and for some reason Willie is in a completely different position to the one she should be in... watch closely)!

Now, I've read the novel. I've read the comic book. I believe that in these Chattar Lal gets back up and attacks Indy before plunging to his fiery doom in the cage in the lava pit.

For years I assumed this scene was never shot.

Until now...

I've just finished watching the Light and Magic featurette on the DVD's and lo and behold... 7 minutes 20 seconds in... who's that? Oooo... Chattar Lal... in the cage, about go get burned... check it out folks!

[Moedred]

Yes, I pondered this last year here (http://raven.theraider.net/showthread.php?t=7825). Dying in the script, the comic book and the novel pretty much means you're dead. If they cut it from the film, it was probably because the cage had gone up and down plenty while Willie was in it. So on the DVD, is Lal in the cage, or on it?

[smokin_si1138]

Yes, I pondered this last year here (http://raven.theraider.net/showthread.php?t=7825). Dying in the script, the comic book and the novel pretty much means you're dead. If they cut it from the film, it was probably because the cage had gone up and down plenty while Willie was in it. So on the DVD, is Lal in the cage, or on it?

Ah, I see. Yeah I think seeing the cage go down again would have been a little too much. Still, it looks like they must have filmed all the elements. On the DVD we see the model of the lava pit with an animatronic Chattar Lal figure perched on top of the cage (he's not locked in, he's on it... I'll try and get a screengrab over the next couple of days). The figure is writhing.

I presume that this was done in Post production which would indicate the live elements for the fight were filmed. I would love to see this stuff!

[Violet Indy]

That sounds awesome. I always wondered what happened to Chatter Lal and it's not like Indy, Willie, Shorty and the slave kids killed all of the cult. Chatter Lal along with remaining faithful followers could have rebuilt it.... INDY IV.

INDIANA JONES AND THE REVENGE OF KALI

SUMMER 2008. ;)

[Jay R. Zay]

That sounds awesome. I always wondered what happened to Chatter Lal and it's not like Indy, Willie, Shorty and the slave kids killed all of the cult. Chatter Lal along with remaining faithful followers could have rebuilt it.... INDY IV.

INDIANA JONES AND THE REVENGE OF KALI

SUMMER 2008. ;)

:whip: indeed

[Canyon]

That sounds awesome. I always wondered what happened to Chatter Lal and it's not like Indy, Willie, Shorty and the slave kids killed all of the cult. Chatter Lal along with remaining faithful followers could have rebuilt it.... INDY IV.

INDIANA JONES AND THE REVENGE OF KALI

SUMMER 2008. ;)

Haha! Fantastic! I like that title very much! :whip:

[Kill Cavalry]

I don't know if it's considered canon, but the "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Sourcebook" put out by West End Games in the mid 1990s said that Chattar escaped and formed a second sect of the Thugee.

[Tennessee R]

Wow, well, older members could have guessed what I thought this thread was about when I saw the title. ;)

but, that is very interesting. Good eye.

[Dr._Jones_Jr.]

Chattar Lal gets caught under the lever of the wheel. I then never see him again. Did he die under the wheel or run off? Honestly TOD is my least fav of the 4 so I haven't watched it as much. To this day I still wonder where he went to.:confused: If anyone has some info hook me up. Thanks again.

[Lonsome_Drifter]

You should have asked this question in your other ToD thread.
But, anyway. Someone with the novelazation of ToD could answer you (if the novel tells what happened to him.)

I think that he was arrested by the British Army when they raided the place for Thuggee practices.
Also, ToD is my favorite of the films.

[Dr._Jones_Jr.]

Sorry. By the time I wanted to the add the question the edit option was gone. I wish it would have elaborated on it a bit more. I wish they also would have shown the thuggees raiding the palace. I figured he was trapped and never got up and died or something.

[indyclone25]

Chattar Lal gets caught under the lever of the wheel. I then never see him again. Did he die under the wheel or run off? Honestly TOD is my least fav of the 4 so I haven't watched it as much. To this day I still wonder where he went to.:confused: If anyone has some info hook me up. Thanks again.


when chattar lal is pinned under the wheel , we don't see him crawl out but you do see him in the back ground crawling away and then passing out about the time shorty brings indy his stuff

[Kooshmeister]

But, anyway. Someone with the novelazation of ToD could answer you (if the novel tells what happened to him.)

In the script, comic, and novelization, Lal recovers from having his ribs cracked in the wheel spokes and dies when he and Indy fight on the sacrificial frame hanging over the pit of molten lava. It falls down the pit; Indy jumps free and grabs the edge, Lal rides the frame all the way and plunges into the lava and dies.

Although script, they might have cut it early for fear of too much action, what with Indy's fight with the Chief Guard and the mine cart chase happening almost immediately afterwards. It would've been way too many action centerpieces on top of one another.

According to the bio for Lal at IndianaJones.com (and by extension, the Indiana Jones Wiki), he crawled away and recovered, and later looted the palace treasury and escaped with a buttload of gold and no one's seen or heard from him since - which is a fairly good conclusion to come to, given what is actually shown in the film.

Considering the fight over the lava pit probably wasn't filmed, and in he movie the last we see of Lal is him crawling away, injured, I think him surviving and escaping is a safe bet.

[TheMutt92]

In the script, comic, and novelization, Lal recovers from having his ribs cracked in the wheel spokes and dies when he and Indy fight on the sacrificial frame hanging over the pit of molten lava. It falls down the pit; Indy jumps free and grabs the edge, Lal rides the frame all the way and plunges into the lava and dies.

Although script, they might have cut it early for fear of too much action, what with Indy's fight with the Chief Guard and the mine cart chase happening almost immediately afterwards. It would've been way too many action centerpieces on top of one another.

According to the bio for Lal at IndianaJones.com (and by extension, the Indiana Jones Wiki), he crawled away and recovered, and later looted the palace treasury and escaped with a buttload of gold and no one's seen or heard from him since - which is a fairly good conclusion to come to, given what is actually shown in the film.

Considering the fight over the lava pit probably wasn't filmed, and in he movie the last we see of Lal is him crawling away, injured, I think him surviving and escaping is a safe bet.

... only to return in Indy V! (JK! George, please don't take this idea! :down: )

[Darth Vile]

I always thought Lal's Thuggee reveal was really disappointing. They turned a potential “OMG – He’s a Thugee too” to a “Oh it’s him worshiping Kali too”. Much better in the comic and novel where Willie escapes and runs back into the palace to find Lal for help.

[Wilhelm]

It seems that the fight over the lava pit was filmed, because we could see Willie in the wheel at the end of the scene. Also there's a strange quick cut when Indy and Willie are together and Indy goes to get the Sankara stones.

[Kooshmeister]

Lal is also inexplicably gone from where he was shown lying on the floor after a couple of shots. Then again this is hardly evidence it was filmed. Movies are shot out of sequence; they could've shot certain bits first, planning to do the fight, only to then abandon it, hoping nobody would notice Lal wasn't lying on the floor in the background anymore, heh. Not saying they didn't shoot it, just saying they may not have. It's a fifty-fifty chance.

[Attila the Professor]

I always thought Lal's Thuggee reveal was really disappointing. They turned a potential “OMG – He’s a Thugee too” to a “Oh it’s him worshiping Kali too”. Much better in the comic and novel where Willie escapes and runs back into the palace to find Lal for help.

No kidding. Also the bit where Short Round figures out the pain/sleep connection and where Indy and Blumburtt talk about how things are clearly amiss, especially what with the menu. These, plus the scenes back in Willie's room, would have really made the film hang together better, in my opinion, and explain some of the more glaring bits.

[Agent Spalko]

I always thought Lal's Thuggee reveal was really disappointing. They turned a potential “OMG – He’s a Thugee too” to a “Oh it’s him worshiping Kali too”. Much better in the comic and novel where Willie escapes and runs back into the palace to find Lal for help.

It was never any surprise that Chattar Lal was under the power of the Thuggee. The first time I saw TOD I suspected he was hiding something from the condescending tone he took with Indy and Captain Blumburt at the dinner table. When we see him in full robes at Willie's ceremony beside Black Sleep Indy it needs no explanation because it was obvious he was part of it all along.

[Benraianajones]

What happens to him - well..first of all you see that huge wheel used to lower the cage in to the pit - that rudder on it hits him right in the chest and lungs, probably puncturing his insides and breaking his ribs. I think we see him crawl on the floor in pain in a shot (crawl as in, moving hardly at all). And then in one scene he is simply laying on the floor motionless - most likely dead from all the internal organs he has had crushed.

[Kooshmeister]

Nah, he survived. That, anyway. Official explanation now is (as I already said above) he recovered and escaped offscreen.

[Benraianajones]

Why do they insist on inventing things? I know that if a lever hit my chest at that speed and harshly, my ribs would probably have been shattered. No way would I have been able to get up, loot a palace and go on the run. In my mind he dies, since to me, considering what happens to his ches cavity, would make more sense.

It is almost (but not as bad) as Boba Fett's "escape" from the Sarlac Pitt monster.

[Kooshmeister]

Well as has been explained, as originally scripted, and possibly filmed, Lal was lively enough after having his ribs crushed to have a fight with Indy over the lava pit. :whip:

Besides, although he does stop crawling away and lie still as though dead or passed out, he's disappeared in later shots. Saying he survived and got away is the simplest way to explain what is otherwise a continuity error created by the deleted fight scene. It's nowhere near as bad as Boba Fett's supposed survival. People can survive having their ribs cracked.

So far, Indy's "Expanded Universe" is fairly conservative compared to that of Star Wars.

[indyrcks]

did he not die

[Kooshmeister]

did he not die

Did you not read the entire thread? :rolleyes:

Sorry to be snappy, but when there's all these in-depth discussions and conclusions come to and someone asks the same question at the end as though everything between his or her post and the original post didn't exist, annoys me....

[Attila the Professor]

Did you not read the entire thread? :rolleyes:

Sorry to be snappy, but when there's all these in-depth discussions and conclusions come to and someone asks the same question at the end as though everything between his or her post and the original post didn't exist, annoys me....

Rightfully so. We have things in thread format instead of randomly scattered posts for a reason.

[Moedred]

If anyone has some info hook me up.
That's kind of what I did by merging to an existing thread. :)
I usually announce such edits. Either way it's read, a little embarrassment for not searching is still deserved.