The Deceivers is a 1988 adventure film directed by Nicholas Meyer, starring Pierce Brosnan, Shashi Kapoor and Saeed Jaffrey.

Captain William Savage, an honorable district administrator for the East India Company, is informed by his subjects in Madhya about the Thugees' murder raids, and appalled, he starts an investigation.

He captures a Thugee named Hussein and wins his cooperation, but Savage's bureaucratic commanding officer and father-in-law, Colonel Wilson, stubbornly adhering to Company protocol, dismisses his report and relieves him of his duty.

Chagrined but determined, Savage decides to disguise himself as an imprisoned native outlaw, Gopal the Weaver, and infiltrate the Thugee cult while aided by Hussein, with only his wife Sarah knowing about his plan.

Receiving the consecrated sugar, implied to be LSD, after such a raid awakens in Savage a dark, ecstatic fascination for killing.

Savage also discovers that senior British officers know about the Thuggees' activities but let them pass through their districts in exchange for a share of their ill-gotten plunder.

In 1974 Stanley Donen announced he had the rights and wanted to make "the kind of movie I've never made before – a big sprawling epic.

[6] Then Merchant approached writer and director Nicholas Meyer—fresh off his work on Volunteers and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home—through Meyer's agent about directing The Deceivers.

Meyer wrote, "Scores of hooligans stormed through our sets while we were rolling; equipment was sabotaged or stolen; 'cultural' societies were founded for the sole purpose of suing us, alleging pornographic distortions of Indian culture.

Merchant responded to the allegations with disgust, saying, "What happened was a mockery—people taking advantage of democratic principles in order to whip up a frenzy.

"[2] Associate producer Paul Bradley said the charge came from a politically well-connected Jaipur businessman who was unhappy at the depiction of Kali and the subplot about suttee.

"[15] Despite the disruptions, Meyer spoke highly of his Indian production crew, stating, "One day when we needed our tulip crane for a big shot, I was flummoxed to learn that four of its bolts had been stolen, incapacitating a vital piece of equipment.

I don't deal well with last minute alterations to The Plan, but my Indian crew managed to mill four new bolts by the time we were ready to roll.

Brosnan disappears so completely into the leading role that he hardly seems present in the movie, and the film's portrait of Victorian India is a triumph (the production was designed by the British master of period atmosphere, Tony Adams).

He added, "There are a few patches of exotic fun, like the opening murder scene, and there's a seductive campfire dance by a young boy that's creepy enough to send chills (though perhaps inadvertently).

"[19] Conversely, Jay Boyar of the Orlando Sentinel gave the film modest praise, saying it "casts quite a spell, combining supernatural overtones with scenes of shootings, stabbings and (especially) strangulations.