Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh

Blowing open the struggles, aspirations, loneliness and lived experiences of Indian women who seek financial independence in one of the most male-dominated economies in the world, Shrayana Bhattacharya’s pathbreaking bestseller shows why women who hold paid jobs form a meagre minority, even in cities. Abandoning traditional modes of social science research, she relies on the fandom of Shah Rukh Khan to glean intimate details of what women think about men, markets, beauty, money and marriage. Discussing Khan’s icon allows a diverse set of women—from upper-caste engineers, tribal migrant domestic workers to Muslim garment workers—to talk about their everyday battles for freedom, revealing how India became one of the world’s most gender-unequal economies. With arresting candour, Bhattacharya also examines her personal anguish against the biases of contemporary India. Funny, furious and fresh, Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh exhorts us towards a true modernity.