Filming Horror (Hindi Cinema, Ghosts and Ideologies)

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 (2014), the book uncovers narrative strategies, frames unique approaches of investigation and reviews the revolutions taking place within this genre.

The book argues that Hindi horror cinema, which lies 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 earned his Master's Degree and Doctorate in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Calcutta. He worked as a freelancer before moving into the academics. He has taught at various higher education institutions including Shri Shikshayatan College, Kolkata, and was the founding head of the Department of Journalism & Mass Communication. He is currently 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, He has contributed articles to renowned peer-reviewed international journals, such as Contemporary South Asia, Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Media Asia, Visual Anthropology and History and Sociology of South Asia. His research areas include gender, representation, ideology, cinema and geme studies.

The 'seed' of this book germinated in Kolkata, and parts of the initial work were written out during my association 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 feasibly 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: I, 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. 28, Issue: 3, 2015).