In “Desperately seeking Shah Rukh”, development economist Shrayana Bhattacharya, crafts an intelligent narrative about the general state of affairs of women in India, through the lens of fandom. A time series graph at the beginning of the book, showing participation of {rural vs. urban} :: {men vs. women} in the Indian labour force, through a series of Shah Rukh’s film releases in nearly three decades, blew my mind. It showed the declining trend of both rural and urban women’s participation over the years, counterintuitive to the narrative sold to us in mainstream media. Through the course of the book, Shrayana takes us through her journey across many states in Northern India, conducting surveys to collect data, which is then used by sociologists, economists in Governmental and Non-governmental organizations, to understand the ground realities of people’s lives and livelihoods - based on which policy changes can (eventually) be made. One of the icebreaker questions that she asked women that she was surveying was about films and their favourite actor. As an ardent Shah Rukh fan herself, she found it intriguing that he clearly emerged as a favourite among women while the likes of actors displaying more masculinity on screen were favourites among men. In addition to her research and analysis in development economics, Shrayana continued to pursue Shah Rukh’s fan following over many years in casual everyday encounters - comprising women belonging to various classes and social strata of the Indian society. Why was Shah Rukh adored by female fans across India, including women of different generations? What is so special about him? What is the current plight of women in India - in terms of independence in all aspects of life? What do their interactions with their most intimate circle tell us? Are their expectations of equality (if any) met? How does Shah Rukh play a role in all this?! Read Shrayana’s book to find out!
One of my earliest memories of engaging with Shah Rukh’s films/ songs is singing “Do dil mil rahe hain” out loud in the living room with my mom when I was 7. And perhaps dancing to “I love my India” from “Pardes” as a group with my fellow third graders for a school programme (I remember I was made to dress as a boy because of my boy cut hairstyle). All of Shah Rukh’s famous movie examples that Shrayana pointed to in the book (from around 95 - early 2000s), I remember watching and enjoying - “Yes boss”, “Pardes”, “DDLJ”, “Kuch kuch hota hai”, “Dil se”, “Swades”, “Chak De India” to name a few. Through all these movies, I remember being a fan of Shah Rukh before the 2010s when many of his movies started bombing in the box office. It was interesting to see the correlation that Shrayana drew in the shift in the types of characters he played, from portraying vulnerability to exhibiting masculinity. After a streak of flops, his screen presence in “Dear Zindagi” was a breath of fresh air, it was the Shah Rukh I could relate to…
I hadn’t (still haven’t) watched a lot of interviews of Shah Rukh as mentioned in the book. It would be interesting to watch these now, keeping the perspectives delved into, in the book.
A couple of questions came to my mind: I wonder if Shrayana encountered in her time in the US (or) thought about investigating the lives of Indian women immigrants living abroad throughout the world - is the situation of this group any different from their counterparts living in India? It’s a fair assumption to make that equality embraces their lives relatively better - how much so?
I also wonder if Shah Rukh read this book… :) It would be interesting to know his take after seeing tangible proof of how he has indulged women in daydreaming…
All in all, the book is a must-read. It was eye-opening in ways I couldn’t fathom. Never did I imagine I would be reading a book about economics, through people’s (in particular women’s) lived experiences and their fan following. A note of appreciation to this new author for also touching upon the role of contemporary female actors in Hindi cinema - in how they are breaking the glass ceiling and inspiring young women.
Thanks to Shrayana for penning this creative (non-) fiction. Truly illuminating!
