Why the Prince of Kolkata still rivals Bengal's biggest movie stars

In Kolkata - that heady mix of book fairs, political slogans, and endless cups of cha - heroes are everywhere. Like culturally rich and literate Kerala, the city doesn't hand out superstardom lightly.

- By Manjusha Radhakrishnan

Film idols, political heavyweights, and cultural giants jostle for attention, but ask a Bengali who their ultimate superstar is, and the answer comes quick: Sourav Ganguly.

"Dada" isn't just a retired cricketer; he's still the headline act. Even today, his aura rivals, and often eclipses, the hysteria around Bengali cinema's leading men, whether it's the evergreen Prosenjit Chatterjee or box-office darling Dev.

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So magnetic is his presence that at one point Ganguly was even rumoured to be weighing a leap into politics - the word on the street back then was that he would be taking on Mamata Banerjee and toppling the Trinamool fortress. It never materialised, but the very idea showed the scale of his clout: in Bengal, people genuinely believed Dada could go from Eden Gardens to Nabanna, the state administrative headquarters of West Bengal.

Now, just to keep the legend rolling, the former India captain and ex-BCCI chief is stepping into a new avatar - head coach of the Pretoria Capitals for the next season of SA20. Because in Kolkata, even retirement doesn't mean an encore is off the cards.