Desperately Seeking Shahrukh by Sharanya Bhattacharya - An Awakening Call For All Those Affected by Patriachy.

There is a saying, "Never judge a book by its cover ". Reading "Desperately Seeking Shahrukh" by Sharanya Bhattacharya ", made me believe that one should not judge a book by its title too. When I learned about this book, I dismissed it as a fangirl book chronicling the urges and desperation of a few upper-middle-class women for SRK. I decided to read the book when I listened to the author at Bangalore Literature Festival.

Having said that, this book is about women who are hoping to see traces of SRK in their male partners. To all of the women featured in the book, including the author, SRK is the complete man. They have developed these expectations based on Mr Shahrukh Khan's movies, interviews, and how he conducts public with his wife.

These expectations alone are not the premise of the book. It is the story of the women featured in this book, who must overcome a slew of dogma, obstacles, and misplaced expectations to emerge victors. Victory doesn't mean translating into millions of income, but in some cases maintaining sanity and status quo. Quoting the author, "This book was written as a love letter to women who walk away from conventional scripts of good "

The book is the story of the fear, resilience, servility, ingenuity, and success of women who are also SRK's fans. The book weaves in, amidst all these stories, hard statistics about the state of women in India today. It's this ability of the author that makes this book a benchmark in nonfiction writing. I personally liked the story of Zahira. She doesn't create a unicorn, but she does win a million battles and the reader's heart with her journey in life. She finds self-respect and esteem in life.

This book is a must-read for men to understand what a woman goes through in her daily life, relationships, and the gaslighting she's subject to (e.g. A Girl Called Gold). But this book is a lot more. I was too excited reading this book. I wish it had been written three decades ago. It would have helped me become a more compassionate and secure man.