Former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly transformed himself after an illustrious career on the pitch. His second innings began with Dadagiri, a Bengali TV quiz contest, where he had to step out of his comfort zone and learn new rules of the game—face contestants, the camera, and tackle questions.
After hosting the show for almost 15 years, Ganguly became one of the most well known hosts in Bengali reality TV. His wit and presence of mind dominated episodes, reminding viewers of the same Ganguly who led a young Indian team to the 2003 World Cup final.
But then Dada made a horrendous decision—hosting Big Boss Bangla. And nobody ever got an explanation.
I have never seen Bigg Boss, be it Bangla, Hindi, Tamil, or the OTT spin-offs. We are talking about a house full of people with alleged scripted dramas, confrontations, 24×7 cameras, contestants making a mockery of their personal lives, the host returning to dissect the theatrics and play along with the circus. It suits Salman Khan, not Sourav Ganguly.
The star of the cricket world
In 2002, Ganguly ended India’s 16-year drought for a limited-overs tournament win in England. India chased down a massive 326 runs at Lord’s in the NatWest series. An ecstatic Ganguly removed his jersey and swung it aggressively over his head from the pavilion — one of the most unforgettable moments in Indian cricket history.
Just a month after this historic win, Ganguly led India to a dominant Test win by an innings and 46 runs at Leeds, marking India’s first Test match victory in England after 16 years.
He dodged Brett Lee’s bouncers, stepped out to thrash Shoaib Akhtar in the offside and sublimely handled legendary spinners like Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan. He faced hostile crowds in both home and away games, made decisions under pressure, scored 18,575 runs, and took 132 wickets.
Under his captaincy, the Indian team transformed itself. It became aggressive. It refused to let the dominant Australians act like bullies. During the 2001 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Ganguly showed up late for the coin toss, leaving Australian captain Steve Waugh waiting on the field. This was a calculated psychological move to break Australia’s arrogance.
India went on to win that series 2-1, overcoming Australia’s 16-match Test winning streak.
Alas, after all this and a 15-year-long second stint at Dadagiri, Ganguly chose Bigg Boss. It was sad.
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Into the world of controversies
Just four weeks into Bigg Boss Bangla, Ganguly already faced controversies which he could have easily avoided.
Recently, during a ‘Dadar Dorbar’ weekend episode on Bigg Boss Bangla, a contestant named Jeetu Kamal pointed a finger at Ganguly and questioned him. The controversy erupted when Rajveer Dey, another contestant, engaged in highly aggressive behaviour and angry outbursts inside the house.
When Ganguly tried to address the situation calmly and explain things to Rajveer in a softer tone, Kamal got offended by the host’s lenient approach and confronted him, asking, “Are you supporting Rajveer’s aggression?”
In another incident, a controversy erupted after a violent captaincy task where contestant Nandini Dutta allegedly physically injured Srijla Guha. The incident was so violent that Srijla had to be rushed to the medical room.
When viewers and the media asked Ganguly why he remained silent and didn’t penalise or scold the culprits, he defended his stance by saying “Dada will scold at the right time.”
“Will scolding make everything okay? Let them play, they have just started. It has only been three weeks. They are also settling in, new people are coming. Dada will scold at the right time,” said Ganguly. “Dada’s job is to play the game. We also have to make sure that people like Bigg Boss. If I silence everyone, then they won’t be able to express themselves. That’s why Dada will speak in the way that is needed over time.”
Just imagine, the person who made the two-time world champion wait for a coin toss is now being questioned about his way of handling things in a scripted television show. He is being haggled on social media over how things should be done.
For nearly 15 years, Dadagiri worked. A few questions that will keep coming back to fans and critics are: “why suddenly change the batting order? Why leave a pitch where you have been scoring freely?” Maybe he wanted to try something different.
Ganguly once used to walk into disheartened dressing rooms and inject passion into the players. In his second stint too, when he walked into the TV set, he could change its mood. But as a cricketer, he should have known which balls to leave instead of playing a bad shot and getting caught in the first slip.