“It’s Ringing Again”: Cellular Ambiguities in Hindi Cinema

Abstract

The cellular phone has inaugurated a variety of foundational material and perceptual changes in our urban sensorium in the recent years. The rapid proliferation of the technology however also brought with it its own distinct set of ambiguities and anxieties. This article’s larger interest lies in tracing the recent emergence of two specific kinds of ambiguous figures in the cellular network—the anonymous terrorist caller and the unknown “lover” on the cell phone. While the former increasingly gets processed into various themes of surveillance and terrorism in recent Hindi films, the latter has begun emerging as a prominent presence in newer offsets of the romance genre. This article will first look at films like Aamir (2008) and A Wednesday (2008), instances where these menacing phone-presences untraceably maneuver the cellular network to activate, invigilate, and re-pace the movement of different sets of bodies throughout the city. In a film like Good Night Good Morning (2012) on the other hand, the incognito presences on the phone tend to usher in a radical and entirely novel form of romantic interaction.