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Paper Cuts: Film, Forensics and the Missing Body of Horror

Paper Cuts: Film, Forensics and the Missing Body of Horror

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Paper Cuts: Film, Forensics and the Missing Body of Horror
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<strong>The School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU</strong> a talk by <strong>Kartik Nair</strong> <strong>Monday, 12th January 2015</strong> <strong>Paper Cuts: Film, Forensics and the Missing Body of Horror</strong> In the late 1970s, a series of graphically violent horror films were submitted for certification by the state-run Central Board of Film Censors (CBFC). In this talk, I focus on two of those films - Jaani Dushman and Darwaza - arguing that film genre and film censorship are mutually generative in their drive towards the 'offscreen'. Drawing on clips from the films and government records, I search through 'cuts' listed in bureaucratic paperwork and undertaken on film prints to locate the missing bodies, sights, and sounds, of screen terror in the aftermath of the brutal Emergency. Kartik Nair is doctoral candidate in Cinema Studies at New York University, where he is writing a dissertation on low-budget horror films in 1980s India. Kartik is an Associate Editor for Bio-Scope, a journal dedicated to South Asian Screen Studies.

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.