Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh Now Available in Paperback

HarperCollins

presents

Shrayana Bhattacharya’s award-winning, pathbreaking bestseller

Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh
India’s Lonely Young Women and the Search for Intimacy and Independence

Now available in paperback with a new preface

‘Intelligent, charming and illuminating.’
— ABHIJIT BANERJEE, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics

‘A decade-defining book.’
— NILANJANA S. ROY, novelist and columnist

‘Welcome to a brilliant new writer; I felt overwhelmed by her genius’
— DEVAKI JAIN, economist and Padma Bhushan awardee

‘A remarkable book.’
— AKSHAYA MUKUL, author of Writer, Rebel, Soldier, Lover: The Many Lives of Agyeya

‘A pioneering work.’
— MANU S. PILLAI, author and historian

 

WINNER OF

THE TIMES OF INDIA JK PAPER AUTHER AWARD FOR BEST NON-FICTION

SKOCH INDIA ECONOMIC FORUM PRIZE FOR LITERATURE

Shortlisted for Best First Book – Non-fiction at the Tata Literature Live 2022 Awards

Longlisted for Best Book – Non-fiction at the Atta Galatta – BLF 2022 Awards

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PB | Non-fiction | 464 pp | Rs 499

Releasing 10 November 2022
Available Wherever Books Are Sold

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Author Shrayana Bhattacharya says, “This book was written as a love letter to women who walk away from conventional scripts of ‘good’ Indian womanhood and all its inherent self-denial. This book was also a love letter to Shah Rukh Khan and the power of social-science research. I hope this book can help you understand how we ended up becoming one of the most gender-unequal economies in the world, by making some sense of these numbers and their nuances. By capturing stories behind the depressing statistics, I hope this book offers you a way to understand the role families, films and each one of us can play in shifting norms. We are all part of the problem; we can be the solution.”

Udayan Mitra, Executive Publisher, HarperCollins India, says, “It’s been almost a year since we first published Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh, and we’re absolutely thrilled with all the accolades and the love that the book has received. This is a truly extraordinary book that looks at the lives of Indian women through the lens of Shah Rukh Khan fandom, which of course is a defining trait of the cultural matrices of contemporary India; but Shrayana’s book delves much deeper – into economic, financial and social realities, and into gender identities and equations in today’s India. Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh is an absolutely fascinating study in social science that is a must-read for anyone who is keen on understanding the intricacies of the India that we live in; it is also an excellent read. We’re hoping that the paperback edition will reach many more readers in the time to come, and that readers will continue to take this brilliant book to heart.”

ABOUT THE BOOK

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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Shrayana Bhattacharya trained in development economics at Delhi University and Harvard University. Since 2014, in her role as an economist at a multilateral development bank, she has focused on issues related to social policy and jobs. Prior to this, she worked on research projects with the Centre for Policy Research, SEWA Union and Institute of Social Studies Trust. Her writing has appeared in the Indian Express, EPW, Indian Quarterly and The Caravan.  She lives in New Delhi.

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK

‘How many books do you know that effortlessly navigate Shah Rukh Khan’s movies, recent economic theories, data on jobs, juicy gossip about the peculiarities of Delhi playboys, sociological narratives and a deep dive into the love lives of young Indian women? This intelligent, charming and quirky book, an illuminating portrait of the dire state of gender relations in contemporary India, does all that and more. Read it.’

—Abhijit Banerjee, Nobel Laureate for Economics and author of Poor Economics—FT Business Book of the Year

‘Welcome to a brilliant new writer; I felt overwhelmed by her genius, the writing reminded me of Ruth Jhabvala who dissected as well as gave beautiful glimpses of Indian society in her books.’

—Devaki Jain, Padma Bhushan awardee for contributions to social justice, feminist economics and women’s empowerment, and author of The Brass Notebook

‘The personal and professional lives of Indian women across social classes come alive in these gripping stories, anchored to our common love for Shah Rukh Khan. A must-read for anyone who wants to make sense of contemporary India.’

—Snigdha Poonam, PEN America Literary Award longlist for non-fiction writing, and author of Dreamers

‘Brilliant on the fantasies and heartbreak of women … a decade-defining book.’

—Nilanjana S. Roy, novelist and columnist

‘Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh is a pioneering work, combining a world of human emotions with data and analysis on women and their place in the modern economy. With piercing candour and brilliant insights, Shrayana Bhattacharya takes us through the lives of working women in India, across class and caste boundaries, presenting a picture at once unsettling but also marked by tales of determination and will.’

—Manu S. Pillai, author and historian

‘A remarkable book. Fascinating idea and beautiful prose. Loved the way Shrayana has dealt with a cross-section of voices. Genuine and personal.’

—Akshaya Mukul, author of Writer, Rebel, Soldier, Lover: The Many Lives of Agyeya

‘Bhattacharya’s is a bold new contribution, an intricately told tale of why the status of women has changed so little, even when so much else has changed so much. Her focus on gender struggles through the lens of Shah Rukh fandom leads to dazzling insights. This is social science at its very best—enjoyable and deeply empathetic.’

—Lant Pritchett, development economist, Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University

‘Shrayana offers a fascinating glimpse into the lives of contemporary Indian women with refreshing lightness of touch, backed by data presented in an immensely readable way. She is brave to weave her own story! SRK is the golden and magical peg.’

—Prof. Ashwini Deshpande, leading scholar on women’s employment in India, Ashoka University, and founding director of Centre for Economic Data and Analysis

‘This genre-bending book looking at women in post-1991 India draws you in from the word go … it does much more than just giving a peek into the iconic status of one of India’s favourite film stars, Shah Rukh Khan. It presents a powerful commentary on the lives of Indian women and the ways they deal with inequities. Most importantly, it provides women a toolkit to navigate the changing landscape of economy and society in their search for freedom and happiness. What makes this work special is Shrayana’s ability to use heartwarming, everyday stories to provide a relatable view of complex economic phenomena.’

—The Hindu

‘Very rarely does a book appear as if it was written just for you, as if every word and line had been carefully crafted to help you make sense of your life. Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh is one of them. Bhattacharya’s approach to gender is unique. Economic theories and data blend beautifully with her anthropological approach. Her writing stirs up emotions in a way that is hard for an academic book to do.’

—The Indian Express

‘Effortlessly creates a unique space for itself as a distinguished anthropological work of its time.’

—Business Standard

‘Quirky, witty and written with striking clarity, the book is a must-read for anyone seeking to gain insights into the curious world of the female gaze.’

—The Telegraph

‘A fresh and unique perspective of Indian women and the extent to which they fight to keep their inner flame on.’

—Deccan Herald

‘Defies easy classification … a book that endears and enlightens … a book to be celebrated’

—Open magazine

‘[Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh] is no hurried survey. It spans nearly two decades of encounters, conversations and friendships with single, married or somewhere-in-between women in northern India. They are Hindu, Muslim and Christian; happy and unhappy homemakers; content and frustrated working women; and resigned and restless working-class women. They are united only by their fandom … Until I read this book, I never fully appreciated the quiet rebellion in my mother and aunt’s sheer enjoyment of a trip to the cinema nearly every Friday for the late-night show.’

—BBC.com

‘This remarkable book is about the challenges faced by Indian women … But Bhattacharya takes that idea and adds so many layers to show it’s not just a story of struggle: it’s a story of aspiration and competing interpretations of freedom which is sometimes won through incremental negotiation and compromise and sometimes through rebellion. Some can be complicit in their own discrimination. What she shows subtly is a point many economists ignore: love and desire are not variables to be ignored. They are central to our understanding of the economy.’

—Mint Lounge

‘Our economic lives and romantic lives are closely intertwined, Bhattacharya notes in this book, and Khan’s films provide women with a different life to aspire to: one where they are free to do what they want and where men will treat them with respect, share the load of caring for a large, multi-generational household, and acknowledge that they, too, need to go out and have fun. To buy their own movie ticket and go to the cinema in a country where a significant percentage of women aren’t allowed to leave the house and visit the local market alone.’

—Bloomberg

‘Deeply engaging, and as a reader, or at least a male one, will take your minds down many paths which you did not know existed. As an analysis of the world of 30-something metropolitan professionals, regardless of gender, it’s a therapeutic read.’

—The Wire

‘The writing style and the narrative do not make you lose interest even in the drier topics. There is always a heartwarming incident or a joke mentioned. We know, of course, of the impact of cinema on society. What this book does is that it humanizes these stories. Told from the perspective of fans, we really understand cinema’s power to comfort, help, and unite. Especially, the power of Shah Rukh Khan.’

—Firstpost

‘Whoever would have thought that Shah Rukh Khan would make an excellent—and effective—research vehicle to track the freedoms of women in middle-class India? Shrayana Bhattacharya has pulled that experiment off wonderfully.’

—The News Minute

‘This is narrative non-fiction at its empathetic best.’

—Sreevatsa Nevatia, India Today

‘Bhattacharya’s book is compelling because she writes about a fandom that she is part of. This makes her gaze and voice less judgmental than someone reporting from the outside. She is funny, self-deprecating, fond of clever sentences.’

—Chintan Girish Modi, News 9

‘An important piece of work … thoughtfully layered, intersectional, just as a contemporary book on India should be. Humour, the use of Hindi words sometimes not translated into English (thankfully) … chiding herself now and then, fattening all arguments with statistical research and sizing up every character in the luck, longing and language of post-liberalized India, make this a winner.’

—Shefalee Vasudev, Voice of Fashion

‘[Shrayana] is able to brilliantly link love, sex and romance with economics in an eminently readable way. The insights are rich in details, unselfconscious and make for a granular treatment of the question of gender.’

—Sucharita Sengupta, The Book Review

‘… an up-close glimpse into how Indian women perceive work, wages, social mobility, economic aspirations, employment, and other seemingly personal issues, like intimacy, loneliness, bargaining power within families, dignity, etc.’

—The Unassuming Economist

‘What stands out most is Bhattacharya’s ability to weave statistics smoothly into her storytelling, making it both accessible and compelling reading … a definitive, refreshing account that is at once a sociology text, a historical artifact, a fandom treatise, an economic development study, and a laborious love letter to this self-made Badshah of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan.’

—desibooks.co

‘[Shrayana’s] detailed ethnographic analysis is systematically peppered up with valuable econometric insights—her specialty—to put observations from the ground in perspective with the bigger picture. The unembarrassed multidisciplinary approach of the book, borrowing with equal ease from sociology, anthropology and popular culture, results in a very refreshing comment on Indian society.’

—Books and Ideas, Insititut Français

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For reviews, excerpts, interviews and more information, please contact Shivendra Singh at
shivendra.singh@harpercollins.co.in