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- Convenors:
-
Angelika Malinar
(University of Zurich, Switzerland)
Hans Harder (SAI Heidelberg, Germany)
- Location:
- 21D68a
- Start time:
- 25 July, 2014 at
Time zone: Europe/Zurich
- Session slots:
- 2
Short Abstract:
The panel addresses the strong presence of horror themes and images in South Asian literatures and film in dealing with modes of depiction, styles of production, historical-cultural contexts and theoretical approaches etc.
Long Abstract:
Depictions and evocations of horror and the horrific have a long legacy ever since the inclusion of "the terrible" in lists of motives and effects in Sanskrit aesthetics or the depiction of the horrors caused by borderline figures, such as vampires in the Sanskrit Vetalapanchavimshati. Recent film and literature productions demonstrate that horrors have also a persistent and massive presence in various South Asian milieus (for instance, the current wave of light horror TV serials mainly in Hindi). Horror strikes but occasionally in the works of canonical modern authors such as Tagore or Premchand. Much more systematic uses of these motives, however, can be found in less than canonical genres, often seen as pulp or grey literature, in many subcontinental literatures and films. All these productions and their configurations of horror(s) have not received much attention in South Asian literary and film studies. In an attempt to survey this production our panel invites papers that relate to 20th and 21st century horror fiction and films, and particularly trace their position between transmutations of traditional horror motifs and the international horror industry. The broad analysis of the horrors depicted in these productions shall also invite discussions of what could be regarded "the uncanny" in South Asia.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Olga Serbaeva Saraogi (Asia-Orient Institute, UZH)
Paper short abstract:
Does « tantric » mean « horrid », « inauspicious », « uncanny » in mediaeval Indian texts? The paper will explore how, when and why did the close association of these terms occur on the basis of the Kathāsaritsāgara passages with the excursions into other mediaeval Indian texts.
Paper long abstract:
A brief look into the Kathāsaritsāgara, the 11th century compilation of stories by Somadeva, demonstrates that about 90% of descriptions of frightening places, such as cremation grounds or abandoned temples occurring in the text come together with the presence of tantric practitioners of various kinds (Śaiva/Śākta and Buddhist) and their rituals practices.
Does it mean that in medieval India the tantric was identified with the horrid par excellence?
The presentation shall be centered upon the origin and function of the uncanny and frightening descriptions of places (such as cremation grounds and temples) within the general frame of the Kathāsaritsāgara-narrative, with the excursions into the other mediaeval texts, such as the Mālatīmādhava and the Yaśastilaka. The examples from the manuscript material of the 10th century tantric Jayadrathayāmala will demonstrate that, at least at the level of the written text, this association of the tantric with the horrid and grim can be attested in the tantric texts as well. Could thus the real tantric practices be indeed incorporated into the mediaeval Indian literature as horror stories?
Hans Harder (SAI Heidelberg, Germany)
Paper short abstract:
Uncanny encounters with demons and man-eaters feature in premodern Bengali folk literature. This paper investigates how these, along with witch-crafting tantriks and other uncanny characters, make their way into modern Bengali children's literature and popular horror fiction and films.
Paper long abstract:
The man-hunting demon, with his notoriously nasalised pronunciation of Bengali rhymes expressing that he is smelling the presence of humans, is a stock feature in Bengali folk tales (rupkatha). On the one hand, by way of a typical modern readaptation of folk heritage, these demons make it into quite a few Bengali twentieth century children's classics. Simultaneously, on the other, newly developing popular horror fiction also appears to draw heavily on premodern motifs such as the evil tantrik. This paper will attempt to scan the production of horror fiction (with occasional glimpses into comic books and films) and sketch the trajectory of "modernising horror".
Deimantas Valanciunas (Vilnius University)
Paper short abstract:
This paper analyses a horror film "Bandh Darwaza" in relation to the economic liberalization of India and the inevitable Western intervention into the sacred domain of “Indianness”. The film transforms the phobia of the unknown into the deformed monster of the Western classical horror tradition.
Paper long abstract:
Anthony Henriques, a reader of Indian cinema magazine 'Filmfare', wrote in the 1988 edition complaining that the Ramsay Brothers would be better advised to tap the rich vein of Indian ghost stories instead of relying on third grade foreign horror movies. I take this remark as a starting point of departure in this paper to analyze a particular film by the Ramsay brothers - Bandh Darwaza (The Closed Door, 1990). It is quite obvious that the cinematic devises used by the Ramsay brothers was an eclectic mix of conventional Bollywood strategies and Western horror classics. However, most of the monstrosities used in earlier films were rather undefined while the film Bandh Darwaza created a particular monstrous character drawing heavily on the popular representations (both visual and narrative) of Dracula. The question I propose in this paper is whether the clearly pronounced Western monstrosity in the film Bandh Darwaza is just a simple exploitation of Western gothic for the effect of the exotic, or is it tightly related to the ideological formulations of the period and articulation of the anxieties and fears of the nation. In this paper I argue that Bandh Darwaza, which was created just before the economic liberalization, appears as the embodiment of the anxiety and fears related to the forthcoming changes. Connecting the economic liberalization and the inevitable Western intervention into the sacred domain of "Indianness" protected by the Indian nationalism, the film transforms the phobia of the unknown into the deformed monster of the Western classical horror tradition.
Angelika Malinar (University of Zurich, Switzerland)
Paper short abstract:
Mani Kaul´s film narrates a "Doppelgänger" story set in a rural environment. The analysis of the film shall focus on the ways in which the depiction of the interconnectedness of the familiar and the uncanny results in disclosing the horror implied in gender relations.
Paper long abstract:
The film narrates the story of a young wife who is left alone in the house of her in-laws when her husband has to go away for business. After some time she is visited by a ghost who appears to her as the double, the Doppelgänger, of her husband. When the "real" husband returns the "other" husband has to be removed. The paper deals with way in which the familiar and the uncanny are intertwined both in narrative and at visual and acoustic levels. It shall be asked who is whose ghost, and what kinds of horrors are dealt with at different levels of the plot and the imagery created in the movie.Here the focus will be on gender-relations and the issue of the ghost´s body. Comparative perspectives on the film will be discussed with respect to the Bollywood movie "Paheli" (2005).
Barbara Lotz (University of Würzburg)
Paper short abstract:
A profusion of paranormal elements can be found in Bollywood ‘Horror’ movies or popular Hindi TV serials, from haunted houses to witchcraft killings. However, apart from depicting horrific situations in gory detail, we find strategies to provide explanations or patterns behind the events in many films.
Paper long abstract:
Different strategies are followed to come to terms with seemingly supernatural and horrifying happenings. As the pathetic Canterbury Ghost of Oscar Wilde, the spirit can be ridiculed and the 'human' side of one who has been badly cheated be revealed, making him a loveable buddy (Bhuthnath 2008). Another strategy is to unveil the psychological mindset behind paranormal behaviour by introducing a protagonist to elaborate on schizophrenia or split identities (Bhulbhulaya 2007). In recently started TV serials (Fear Files 2012), we even see a professional anchor or a 'real victim' to introduce the respective sequence, in which certain paranormal happenings are re-enacted and commented upon by a 'paranormal expert', explaining them with various psychological disorders, subconscious phenomena, hypnotic experiences etc., especially in urban settings. Other episodes, preferably in rural setting, show witchcraft by a ḍain (witch) as the revenge of a woman who was raped and beaten to death by villagers, or let an aborted female child act as a ghost who kills all female members of the household responsible for her abortion. Here, clear messages of social reform are voiced in the end by the 'paranormal expert'. (These 'instructions of the public' might gain significance in view of the recent murder of a prominent activist against superstition and Black Magic at Pune). This paper will focus on the treatment of 'traditional' elements of Indian witchcraft, which are to be solved by social change, against a set of paranormal effects, that can be obviously given (pseudo-)scientific explanations or solutions.
Mirella Lingorska (University of Tubingen)
Paper short abstract:
"Fireproof" of Raj Kamal Jha is about the massacre in Gujarat in 2002. A senior editor of "The Indian Express", Jha has already reported in documentaries about the riots. In his novel he does quite the opposite. He tells the fictional life stories of the dead and depicts something only fiction offers:
Paper long abstract:
the victims' last acquaintance with their murderers. The paper discusses with some examples the process of swelling disquietness which unfolds through a strong feeling of uncanniness to reach its climax in unspeakable horror.