What does a Bollywood star have to do with Indian women’s

In India being a female fan of Shah Rukh Khan is not just about a love of film – it’s a form of resistance against restrictive gender norms

Shah Rukh Khan may be an Indian cinematic legend and star of record-breaking Bollywood blockbusters but he is not someone you would expect to appear in socioeconomic studies. And yet, for almost two decades, the actor has been central to my research into the economic lives of ordinary Indian women.

It started in 2006, when as a research assistant for a project with the Institute of Social Studies Trust and the Self Employed Women’s Association, a trade union. My job involved surveying home-based workers – women who made incense sticks and garments at home for less than the minimum wage – in a poor area of Ahmedabad.

Shrayana Bhattacharya is an economist and author