This chalice is seen in the film when the High Priest of the Thugee Cult, Mola Ram, forces Indiana Jones to drink blood from it. He pours the blood from the chalice in to Indiana 's mouth but he spits it out. A fight ensues and Indiana is forced to drink the blood again as Mola Ram tells him that, in order for the Cult to become all powerful ...The British Olympia will be slaughtered and then we will overrun the Muslims, then the Hindu Lord will fall and then the Christian World will be cast down...

The script dictated that Indiana Jones was forced to drink blood from a skull and, accordingly, the Props department at Elstree had taken the top off a skull and placed a metal dish in the top. Tom Smith offered to make a more practical vessel so that liquid would not drip down the recipient's face and, as Spielberg had specified that he didn't want the chalice to have a spout, he designed it so that the tongue would perform this function. He recalls that only one chalice was made.