The Political Economy of SRK Fandom: An Affective Labour Analysis across Class and Place in Shrayana Bhattacharya’s Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh

Abstract

Fandom encompasses collective enthusiasm, practices, and communities that emerge around shared interest in cultural texts, public figures or ideas fostering a sense of belonging, identity, and emotional support through shared passions. Shrayana Bhattacharya's Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh (2021) uses Shah Rukh Khan fandom to explore how Indian women navigate patriarchal capitalism across class and geography. His romantic persona enables imagining alternative gender relations and self-worth. Beyond leisure, fandom drives

cultural production and discourse through fans' interpretations and challenges to dominant narratives. This article argues that fan affect itself is a productive labour and an economic activity, with class and place functioning as interlocking determinants of how fandom is experienced, practised, and mobilised. Drawing on Karl Marx's labour theory of value and Pierre Bourdieu's analysis of cultural capital the article demonstrates how Shah Rukh Khan's female fans generate value through immaterial fan labour, even when they cannot consume his films. The article further argues that fandom operates differently across class positions and spatial contexts structuring the relationship between affective attachment and economic value. This analysis contributes to celebrity studies, feminist political economy, class and geographies of fandom.