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Filming Horror: Hindi Cinema, Ghosts and Ideologies Bridges the Gap That Currently Exists in the Field of Genre Studies in Hindi Cinema

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Filming Horror: Hindi Cinema, Ghosts and Ideologies Bridges the Gap That Currently Exists in the Field of Genre Studies in Hindi Cinema First book to study the horror MUBARKI genre of Hindi cinema in all its forms and expressions Filming Horror: Hindi Cinema, Ghosts and Ideologies bridges the gap that currently exists in the field of genre studies in Hindi cinema. Analysing more than 80 horror films from Mahal (1949) to Ragini MMS 2 FILMING (2014), the book uncovers narrative strategies, frames unique approaches of investigation and reviews the revolutions taking place within this genre. FILMING HORROR The book argues that Hindi horror cinema, which lies H RROR at the intersection of myths, ideology and dominant socio-religious thoughts, reveals three major strands of narrative constructs, each corresponding to the way the nation has been imagined at different times in post-colonial India. Moving beyond establishing the theoretical framework of horror cinema, the book intends to demonstrate how this genre, along with its subsets, provides us with the means to contemplate the nation and its representation. Meraj Ahmed Mubarki is Assistant Professor in the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism at Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad, where he teaches PG courses on Film Studies, Media, Law and Society, Advertising and Market Research, English Journalistic Skills and Film Editing. ` XXX ISBN 978-93-515-0872-4 MERAJ AHMED MUBARKI FILMING HORROR FILMING HORROR HINDI CINEMA, GHOSTS AND IDEOLOGIES MERAJ AHMED MUBARKI Copyright © Meraj Ahmed Mubarki, 2016 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Screenshots used by the author in the book are for representational purposes only. First published in 2016 by SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd B1/I-1 Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area Mathura Road, New Delhi 110 044, India www.sagepub.in SAGE Publications Inc 2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, California 91320, USA SAGE Publications Ltd 1 Oliver’s Yard, 55 City Road London EC1Y 1SP, United Kingdom SAGE Publications Asia-Pacifi c Pte Ltd 3 Church Street #10-04 Samsung Hub Singapore 049483 Published by Vivek Mehra for SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd, typeset in 11/13 pts Book Antiqua by RECTO Graphics, Delhi and printed at Chaman Enterprises, New Delhi. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Mubarki, Meraj Ahmed author. Title: Filming horror: Hindi cinema, ghosts and ideologies/Meraj Ahmed Mubarki. Description: New Delhi ; Thousand Oaks : SAGE Publications, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2015049016| ISBN 9789351508724 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9789351508717 (epub : alk. paper) | ISBN 9789351508731 (ebook : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Motion pictures—India—History. | Horror films—India— History and criticism. | Motion pictures—Social aspects—India. Classification: LCC PN1993.5.I8 M65 2016 | DDC 791.430954—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015049016 ISBN: 978-93-515-0872-4 (HB) The SAGE Team: Shambhu Sahu, Isha Sachdeva and Vinitha Nair Dedicated to my mother Umida Begum and to the memory of my father, the late Md Ahmed Mubarki, film distributor and a fanatic horror film buff ;OHUR`V\MVYJOVVZPUNH:(.,WYVK\J[ 0M`V\OH]LHU`JVTTLU[VIZLY]H[PVUVYMLLKIHJR 0^V\SKSPRL[VWLYZVUHSS`OLHYMYVT`V\ Please write to me at [email protected] Vivek Mehra,4HUHNPUN+PYLJ[VYHUK*,6:(.,0UKPH Bulk Sales :(.,0UKPHVќLYZZWLJPHSKPZJV\U[Z MVYW\YJOHZLVMIVVRZPUI\SR >LHSZVTHRLH]HPSHISLZWLJPHSPTWYPU[Z HUKL_JLYW[ZMYVTV\YIVVRZVUKLTHUK For orders and enquiries, write to us at 4HYRL[PUN+LWHY[TLU[ :(.,7\ISPJH[PVUZ0UKPH7][3[K )04VOHU*VVWLYH[P]L0UK\Z[YPHS(YLH 4H[O\YH9VHK7VZ[)HN 5L^+LSOP0UKPH E-mail us at [email protected] Get to know more about SAGE )LPU]P[LK[V:(.,L]LU[ZNL[VUV\YTHPSPUNSPZ[ Write today to [email protected] ;OPZIVVRPZHSZVH]HPSHISLHZHULIVVR Contents List of Figures ix Preface xiii Acknowledgements xv 1 Indian Cinema and Ideology 1 Hindi Cinema and Ideology 2 Cinema in the Colonial Context 6 2 Genre, Codes and the Horror Cinema 14 Genre and Its Functionality 17 Horror Genre and Spectatorship 20 Freud and the Uncanny 22 Robin Wood’s Return of the Repressed 24 Julia Kristeva and the Abject 26 Generic Codes of the Hindi Horror 28 Conjunctions and Departures with Hollywood 31 Generic Features of the Hindi Horror 37 Horror Cinema as Project of/for the ‘Nation’ 38 Nature of the Hindi Horror Genre 43 3 Secular Conscious Narrative 47 Secularism in the Indian Context 48 Mahal: The Inaugural Moment of the Secular Consciousness 51 Madhumati 56 Kohraa 63 Bhool Bhulaiyaa 68 viii Filming Horror 4 Return of Traditional–Cultural Narrative 72 Jadu Tona 82 Gehrayee 87 Phoonk 93 The Horror in Science Fiction: Between Morals and Mad Scientists 95 Historicity of the Monstrous Narrative 97 India and the Discourse of Science 101 Monstrosities from Science or Monstrous Science? 103 The Horror of Transmutation 107 The Triumph of the Traditional/Mythic Order 108 The Monstrous ‘Other’ Feminine 111 Mangalsutra and the Monstrous Other Feminine 119 Veerana 126 Modernization of Patriarchy and Post-liberalization Female Monstrosity 130 Raaz 132 Eight: The Power of Shani 134 Darling 137 5 The Inflection of the Hindutva ‘Ideo’logic Cinema 144 1920 156 Haunted 166 Conclusion 171 References 174 Index 193 About the Author 197 List of Figures 2.1 The culturally alien monstrosity with razor- 33 fitted glove in Mahakaal draws its inspiration from A Nightmare on Elm Street. 3.1 The interplay of light and shadow on the 53 edges of the frame impart mystical elements to Kamini (Madhubala) in Mahal. 3.2 Inspired by geometrical patterns, which 54 was an important element in the German Expressionism, Shankar (Ashok Kumar) is framed between two geometrically patterned doors in Mahal. 3.3 The ‘Nehruvian frame’ that acknowledges 61 the temporal and the phantasmal in a single frame. Madhumati with her back to the camera along with the police officer. 3.4 Poonam’s spectral presence in Kohraa is 64 visible only to Raj and the audience. 3.5 The lair of the Hindu priest in Nagin sports 69 the photograph of Jesus Christ in top right corner of the frame. 4.1 The admonitory still that defines the 83 orientation of the narrative from Jadu Tona. 4.2 Police Inspector Jolly Goodman breaks the 85 fourth wall and points out the significance of the Islamic numeral 786 in Jadu Tona. 4.3 The rebuking inter-title that defines the 87 traditional–cultural orientation of Gehrayee. x Filming Horror 4.4 The Ganesh idol with Rajeev and Aarti in the 94 background in Phoonk. 4.5 Dr Wilson’s (Sanjeev Kumar) moment of 105 self-aggrandizement in Chehre Pe Chehra. 4.6 Professor Pashupati’s society where he 110 imparts the legitimacy of an academic discourse on the Occult in Shaapit: The Cursed. 4.7 Manohar (Madhavan) confronts the 111 operational autonomy of electrical devices in 13B. 4.8 Gayatri (Rekha) looks into the mirror, aware 121 that she is being looked at by Vijay (Anant Nag) in Mangalsutra. 4.9 Vijay describing possession by the 123 monstrous ‘other’ feminine as symbolic penetration in Mangalsutra. 4.10 The camera frames Kamini (Prema Narayan) 124 looking at Vijay (Anant Nag), who looks away from her. A scene from Vijay’s flashback in Mangalsutra. 4.11 A woman-in-a-keyhole moment imparts a 127 voyeuristic gaze to the viewer in Veerana. 4.12 Nisha’s gaze is the means through which 129 she exercises most of her orphic powers including enamouring the married Suraj towards herself in Bees Saal Baad. 4.13 A subjective camera appropriates Sanjana’s 132 gaze marking the reversal of the ‘look’ and the objectification of the male body in Raaz. 4.14 Sanjana’s look (Bipasha Basu) as she savours 133 the moment of the female gaze in Raaz. 4.15 Geeta’s specular surveillance (shown in 138 center) disrupts conjugal intimacy between Aditya (Fardeen Khan) and his wife Ashwini (left) in Darling. List of Figures xi 4.16 As post-liberalization monstrous ‘Other’ 139 feminine narrative, Darling offers a peek at male objectification through female gaze as in this shot which shows Aditya in his underthings. 5.1 The cutaway shot of a Koran inside the 145 coffin of Vampire Neola (Anirudh Agarwal) in Bandh Darwaza. 5.2 A close-up of the monster in the opening 148 shot that reveals all and leaves nothing to the imagination marked the overarching discourse of excess of melodrama in Ramsay Brothers’ Bandh Darwaza. 5.3 A cow is centre-spaced in the frame as Arjun 158 returns from his walk. 5.4 The precariously perched cross atop 160 the church introduces the faith and its ordinariness in 1920. 5.5 The cutaway shot of the Hindu God 163 Hanuman implying darshan for Arjun Singh Rathore in 1920. Preface The ‘seed’ of this book germinated in Kolkata, and parts of the initial work were written out during my associa- tion with Shri Shikshayatan College. The idea of a book on Hindi horror cinema was tested in a series of articles, and the responses to those publications assured me that a full-scale documentation of the Hindi horror genre was fea- sibly overdue. This encouraged me to undertake a wider approach encompassing the genre in all its forms and expressions. In this regard, I wish to acknowledge that arguments made in the book have appeared in ‘Mapping the Hindi Horror Genre: Ghosts in the Service of Ideology’ in History and Sociology of South Asia (Vol. 7, Issue: 1, January 2013); ‘The Monstrous “Other” Feminine: Gender, Desire and the “Look” in the Hindi Horror Genre’ in the Indian Journal of Gender Studies (Vol. 21, Issue: 3, October 2014); and ‘Monstrosities of Science: Exploring Monster Narratives in Hindi Horror Cinema’ in Visual Anthropology (Vol.
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