Abhishek V. Lakkad
Doctoral Research Candidate, Centre for Studies in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (CSSTIP), School of Social Sciences, Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar, Gujarat. ORCID: 0000-0002-0330-0661. Email: abhishek.lakkad@gmail.com
Volume 10, Number 2, 2018 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v10n2.23
Received January 31, 2018; Revised April 22, 2018; Accepted May 19, 2018; Published May 26, 2018.
Abstract
This paper engages with ‘Frankenstein’ as a narrative structure in Indian popular cinema, in the context of posthumanism. Scholarship pertaining to monsters/monstrosity in Indian films has generally been addressed within the horror genre. However, the present paper aspires to understand monstrosity by locating its origins in science and technology through Frankenstein-like characters, thus shifting the locus of examining monstrosity from the usual confines of horror to the domain of science fiction. The paper contends Enthiran/Robot (Shankar 2010 Tamil/Hindi) as an emblematic instance of posthuman monstrosity that employs a Frankenstein narrative. The paper hopes to bring out the significance of cinematic imagination concerning posthuman monsters, to engage with collective social fears and anxieties about various cutting-edge technologies as well as other socio-cultural concerns at the interface of science, technology, body and the society/nation.
Keywords: Frankenstein, Posthumanism, Monstrosity, Indian popular cinema, Science Fiction
