Abstract
University of DelhiUnlike the werewolf myth, on which there is a significant corpus of takes in Hollywood cinema, Indian horror films abound in snake-, tiger- and gorillatransformations. Most of these shape-shifting monsters represent aberrant subjectivities that set in motion a cycle of destruction and redemption within these narratives. This article will explore how the male body in Indian horror films acts as a site of different bodily discourses that permits a reading of socio-cultural crises within the societal framework. Although there are almost a dozen Indian horror films to date that deal with such shape-shifting monsters, this article will limit itself to studying one Hindi film Jaani Dushman (1979, dir. Raj Kumar Kohli) and one Telugu film Punnami Naagu (1980, dir. A. Rajasekhar). The following core questions will be explored: do these narratives challenge the constructions of hegemonic masculinity? What departures from normative masculinity, if such a thing exists at all, take place? How do these narratives use horror codes and conventions to map the emergence of different types of masculinities? How can these bodily discourses be correlated with various contemporary socio-political issues of India?
Highlights
Unlike the werewolf myth, on which there is a significant corpus of takes in Hollywood cinema, Indian horror films abound in snake, tiger- and gorillatransformations
There are almost a dozen Indian horror films to date starting from the Bangla Hanabari (Haunted House, 1952)1 to the Hindi Hisss (Nagin: The Snake Woman, 2010) that deal with the theme of human-to-animal transformations
This article seeks to establish that while the monstrous body in Jaani Dushman can be read as a disguised critique of National Emergency in India (1975–7), the shape-shifting male body in Punnami Naagu can be read as a metaphor for the caste politics of the 1970s and 1980s Andhra Pradesh
Summary
The National Emergency imposed by the former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1975 was a watershed moment in the postcolonial history of India. Most horror films use a strong darkcoloured schema to create a foreboding horrific atmosphere on screen Keeping with this tradition, this film depicts thakur’s anxieties through possession each time he sees a newly-wed bride in her red wedding costume. He was generally known to play the role of a gentle and soft-spoken protagonist in middle-class cinema comedies (Angoor (The Comedy of Errors), 1982), or of a repentant father (Trishul (Trident), 1978), and his most famous role—the wronged thakur of Sholay (Embers, 1975) His raping and killing of newly-wed women when possessed by the ghost, besides symbolising the cruelty of the feudal world against women can be read as the crisis of his own masculinity. The thakur’s body becomes the site of the typical male sexual anxiety
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