In "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," Mola Ram (Amrish Puri) is the leader of the Thuggee cult that operates out of Pankot Palace. He commands the Thuggees to kidnap, attack, and assist in the attempted sacrificial rituals of Dr. Jones and his companions throughout the film, even almost succeeding in taking out the beloved adventurer at one point.
While many details have been added and exaggerated for the movie, the Thuggee are a very real part of history, and they murdered hundreds of thousands of travelers in India as sacrifices (via Biography). The choice to portray the Thuggee in the movie forced the filmmakers to choose a different location for production, however, since India would not allow them to make the movie there with the plot as it was. It was instead filmed in Sri Lanka.
The Thuggee are estimated to have started around the 16th century, although the group operated in complete secrecy and wasn't found out for hundreds of years (via Encyclopedia.com). While the Thuggee in the movie are very loosely based on the ones in real life, they are one part of the plot of "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" that is derived from a very dark reality.
