Bollywood Horrors: Religion, Violence and Cinematic Fears in India

Description

Bollywood Horrors is a wide-ranging collection that examines the religious aspects of horror imagery, representations of real-life horror in the movies, and the ways in which Hindi films have projected cinematic fears onto the screen. Part one, “Material Cultures and Prehistories of Horror in South Asia” looks at horror movie posters and song booklets and the surprising role of religion in the importation of Gothic tropes into Indian films, told through the little-known story of Sir Devendra Prasad Varma. Part two, “Cinematic Horror, Iconography and Aesthetics” examines the stereotype of the tantric magician found in Indian literature beginning in the medieval period, cinematic representations of the myth of the fearsome goddess Durga’s slaying of the Buffalo Demon, and the influence of epic mythology and Hollywood thrillers on the 2002 film Raaz. The final part, “Cultural Horror,” analyzes elements of horror in Indian cinema’s depiction of human trafficking, shifting gender roles, the rape-revenge cycle, and communal violence. Cover page Halftitle page Series page Title page Copyright page Dedication Contents Plates Contributors Preface Introduction A Short History of Indian Horror Films Looking for Horror in Bollywood Horror as a Genre: Conventions of Bollywood Horror Through the Lens of Religious Studies Horror as Affective Response: Reading Bollywood Horror with Rasa Aesthetics Horror as Representation: The Portrayal of Real-life Terror The Structure of this Book Part One Material Cultures and Prehistories of Horror in South Asia 1 Monsters, Masala, and Materiality: Close Encounters with Hindi Horror Movie Ephemera Introduction: Posters, Song Booklets, and “Methodological Fetishism” Text and Violence in Darawani Haveli Sex, Blood, and Copyright Infringement in Song Booklets A Psychoanalytic Examination of the Theo-erotics of the Devouring Mouth Conclusion 2 Vampire Man Varma: The Untold Story of the “Hindu Mystic” Who Decolonized Dracula Introduction A View of Everest “A Hindu Mystic”: The Post-colonial Gothic and the Politics of Gothic Criticism Dracula Decolonized: Knocking on Bandh Darwaza Conclusion Part Two Cinematic Horror, Iconography, and Aesthetics 3 Divine Horror and the Avenging Goddess in Bollywood Rasa and Masala The Devī-Mahātmya Fierce Goddesses and the Male Gaze in Indian Film When a Woman Becomes Chan.d.īka (Nari Bane Jab Chan.d.īka) 4 Horrifying and Sinister Tāntriks From Sinister Yogīs to Bollywood Tāntriks: A Brief History of Tantra in South Asian Narrative The Varieties of Tāntrik Experience: Fraudulent, Sinister, and Pure Māntriks in Gehrayee Magic—Real, Fake, and Really Fake in Jaadugar The Silence and the Struggle: Blending Hollywood and Bollywood Horror in Sangarsh The Great Goddess and the Tāntrik Demon in Ammoru Conclusions: The Horrors of Power—Tantra and Abjection in Modern “Hinduism” 5 Do You Want to Know the Raaz? Sāvitri, Satyavān, and the Other Woman Introduction The Background Revealing the Raaz Formulas and Techniques The Sex Rewriting the Myth Concluding the Raaz Part Three Cultural Horror 6 Cultural Horror in Dev: Man Is the Cruelest Animal Introduction: Background on the History of Communalism1 Cultural Horror Film Synopsis of Dev Theorizing Cultural Horror in Dev: Fanon, Arendt, and Freud Summary and Conclusion 7 Bandit Queen, Rape Revenge, and Cultural Horror Introduction Film Synopsis Rape Revenge as Horror Indian Rape Revenge Rape, Revenge, and Banditry Truth and Testimony Circuits of Power, Representation, and Production Conclusion 8 Mardaani: The Secular Horror of Child Trafficking and the Modern Masculine Woman Introduction Plot Summary Horror Tropes and Appetites A Woman Hero Pushing Definitions of Acceptable Womanhood in Pradeep Sarkar’s Laaga Chunari Mein Daag Beyond Avenging Women An Ordinary Monster Children and Vulnerability Maximum City Horror Conclusion: Order Restored? Notes Bibliography Index Plates