Kamal Khan in Octopussy is a deliberate blend of Bond villain archetypes. He displays a cultivated elegance at dinner with Bond and Magda with this comment on the souffle and is obsessed with rare antiquities. This echoes other refined villains like Dr. No and Hugo Drax, yet beneath that sophistication is a small-time swindler. He bankrolls his operation through counterfeit treasures and casually cheats at backgammon, similar to Goldfinger’s gin rummy dishonesty.

Ultimately, Khan isn’t a master criminal so much as a well-dressed fraud. While entertaining, his pretensions of grandeur are undercut by the fundamental reality that he’s a conman and not a criminal genius. I wonder if the souffle tasted good?