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What haunts the city? Why is there so much pessimism in our urban lives? And how does this physical and psychological insecurity of relentless competition and a desire to succeed against all odds proliferate into cinema?

Dark Fear, Eerie Cities analyses a wide array of films made in the early 21st century to offer a philosophical and psychoanalytical critique of the transforming cinematic imaginary—from the pre-1990s feudal family ideal to the contemporary construction of the new middle class’s subjectivities in the postcolonial context. Keeping in mind the effects of globalization, market liberalization, and the emergence of new forms of media and its consumption, the book proposes a theoretical engagement with cinematic transformations.  Paunksnis presents an interdisciplinary study of a genre of cinema in which crime thrillers and horror films are aimed at answering some of the fundamental questions of our contemporary times.   

Contents: Introduction. 1. Understanding Cinematic Transformations and Neoliberal Culture in India. 2. Objects in the Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear: Imagination and the Other. 3. Haunting and Uncanny Cities of Neoliberal India. 4. Film Noir and the Dark Spaces of New Hindi Cinema. 5. Screening Masculine Anxiety: Men, Women and Violence. Bibliography.