Always in the news for his aristocratic aura and articulateness and as Bengal’s favourite ‘Dada’ and superstar of ’Dadagiri’ quiz show, Saurav Ganguly recently gave his large fan base a huge scare by surviving a close call (major car accident) as he might have done in his heydays by edging one over the slips as India’s elegant left handed opening batter and as one of India’s most celebrated & successful Cricket Captains !
Despite being ousted from being Head of BCCI a couple of years back (reportedly due to the forces within and outside ), Dada remains a key figure in Cricket world for his expert views, IPL Coaching stints and as a Member of ICC”s Technical Experts Committee. It’s ironic that with people like him, Sunny , Kapil & Dravid (& other legends of the game), a non-sporting heavy weight heads ICC, Cricket’s biggest body but that’s another story !
While most of the biggies of Indian cricket (Sachin, Dhoni, Kapil, Azhar, Mitali Raj etc) have had biopics on their lives and illustrious careers, two films that are being eagerly awaited but are yet to see the light of the day are the biopics on the legendary Kishore Kumar and on ‘Dada’ Sourav Ganguly which have been in the offing for several years. While there seems to be little progress on the Kishoreda biopic for various reasons and particularly choice of the actor for the leading role, there’s some good news on the other.
Ganguly has recently revealed that the versatile actor, Rajkummar Rao will be playing his character in his biopic sports film but which may take a year to roll out finally. That said, fans will speculate whether Rao, despite his strong acting credentials will be able to do justice to tumultuous highs and lows of Dada’s phenomenal cricket career which has had its share of detractors and controversies but a legion of followers and cricket lovers ! There’s great charisma and a stately bearing that’s been associated with Dada’s persona.
In my humble opinion, despite his flashy image, Ranveer Singh could pull off a superb role as the young Kapil who led India’s to the historic 1983 victory. Rao is an excellent actor who did a convincing job as the cricket-coach to Janhvi Kapoor in the 2024 Film ’Mr. and Mrs Mahi’.
It’s the script that has bring out all the nuances of an engrossing story- glorious debut, artist lefthander’s cover drives and batting greatness, constructing a new breed of young aggressive players, his astute captaincy & struggles with a Coach & Authorities. Sehwag, Yuvi, Bhajji, Zaheer & other stars of earlier era, all pay tributes to a comeback-man and a leader who backed his team & transformed players into legends !
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