Kali

Creator: Ray Harryhausen

Film: The Golden Voyage of Sinbad 1973

Kali Video Clip

Kali ‘the dark Mother’ is the Hindu goddess who represents destruction. The belt of skulls around her waist symbolised savagery and the cannibalism practised by her cult. Having escaped the previous treachery of Prince Koura from his destruction of the temple of the Oracle of all knowledge, Sinbad and his crew follow Koura and his ally Achmed who have been captured by the green men, to the Temple of Kali where the six-armed goddess resides. Upon entering the temple Koura eyes the statue and commands the deity “oh mighty Kali, mightier than thou am I, make obeisance to me!’ whereby he throws a phial of potion which strikes the statue on the head. After a brief moment Kali begins to turn her head followed by her once stagnant limbs as Koura look on. The green men bow in awe and fear at the sight of their god in motion and at the power of the magician that commands her. Utilising his obvious considerable hold of Kali, Koura beckons her to descend the stairs of her plinth whereby upon reaching the bottom he commands her to “Dance, dance for me”.Kali performs a dance for her new master until he shouts “STOP” thus rendering her motionless once more. The green men leave with Ahmed, as Koura remains alone with Kali as he desperately searches for the third golden tablet as foretold by the Oracle of all knowledge. Upon hearing the noise of Koura in his wild search, Sinbad and his crew enter the temple. To his surprise, Sinbad then throws a sword to Koura and tells him “to the death”. Koura recites the words and stepping to one side of the statue, recites them again adding “to the death Kali, death to our enemies” whereby he throws her the sword which she catches and instantly each of her other five limbs magically sprout a sword of their own.Following a leer of satisfaction from Koura and a brief hesitant moment, Sinbad makes the first strike at Kali and an awesome sword battle commences. The crew quickly join their captain in the battle as Kali fights using all her arms to terrifying effect. Crew members are maimed and killed as the goddess follows Sinbad up a stairway onto a platform whereby Haroun sees that Kali seems to be beginning to win the fight and using a chance moment runs up behind the statue pushing her off the edge of the platform. The body of Kali smashes as it hits the floor only to reveal the third Golden tablet that was hidden within her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kali Facts

 

• In order to rehearse all the six arms with the actors in the sequence three stunt men had to be strapped together with a big belt standing and posing as Kali.

 

• There was only one model of Kali standing about 14 inches high, made out of latex.

 

• The entire fighting sequence between Kali and Sinbad and his men was once again choreographed by Fernando Poggi.

Credit: An Animated Life

By Tony Dalton