Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh: India's Lonely Young Women And The Search For Intimacy And Independence by Shrayana Bhattacharya

First there’s the engaging thesis: Learning about the reasons for Indian women’s crushes on the Bollywood superstar, Shah Rukh Khan, might be a common thread that could weave disparate stories across class and caste. This brilliant economics treatise couched as sociology and fangirling experiment really hits the mark in exploring the state of women in contemporary India. The author starts by describing her own unsuccessful attempts in finding a life partner and zooms out to explore how India’s economic boom and the increasing influence of cinema (and American TV) have left women in a muddled and precarious state. A must-read.