Discordant discourses: Narrative strategies,cultural politics and the cinematic representations of the Aarushi-Hemraj murder case

Abstract

The 2008 Noida double murder of Aarushi Talwar and Hemraj Banjade can be understood as a curious amalgam of unsolvability, sensationalism, and moral polarization that defined post-millennial India. This article attempts a close reading of two Hindi films on the Aarushi-Hemraj murder case, namely Rahasya (Mystery, 2015) and Talvar (The Sword, 2015), using the insights of cultural criminology in order to understand the politics of interpretation surrounding the double homicide. Over the years, the case has acquired notoriety for the competing versions of the possible course of events and culprits among various investigative teams, media houses, and the general public. Drawing attention to the antithetical narrative strategies as well as the dichotomous mobilization of justice-injustice figures in these two films, the paper indexes the pervasive presence of dominant cultural anxieties vis- à -vis gender, class, and religion in post-liberalization India. Subsequently, it will also demonstrate how the complex configuration of fact and fiction in the Aarushi-Hemraj murder case, combined with the socio-cultural prejudices (as portrayed within the diegetic spaces of these two movies), contributes to the creation of a hermeneutical palimpsest where multiple versions of a single crime coexist.