Bollywood Horror as an Uncanny Public Sphere: Genre Theories, Postcolonial Concepts, and the Insightful Audience

Abstract

This article critically interrogates the many ways in which contemporary urban life in India is imagined and theorized by Hindi horror films and their critics and audiences. It suggests that “horrific” representations of tropes such as living space, family life, labor, gender relations and childhood are repositioned by the meanings attributed in critical and audience discussions across time and national boundaries. Acknowledging and questioning a conceptual mélange from “abjection” and “subalternity” to “voice” and “carnival,” it complicates homogenizing accounts of Bollywood's ideological allegiance to authoritarian master-narratives. While Hindi horror films invite spectators to engage with political rhetorics about economic success, exclusion, justice, and patriarchy, the outcomes of such engagement are inflected by individual spectators's cultural, political, and generic experiences.

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