Rajkummar Rao, Sourav Ganguly Meet on Mahashtami for Dada

Rajkummar Rao is already stepping into Sourav Ganguly’s world. On Mahashtami, the actor and producer Ankur Garg joined the former India captain at his Kolkata residence for the family’s Durga Puja celebrations, where they exchanged festive greetings and sought blessings.

The three later went pandal-hopping, visiting two of Kolkata’s best-known festive spots — Maddox Square and Allen Park — to take in the puja energy and offer prayers together.

For Rao, the timing is as meaningful as the location. Instead of a private workshop or a formal sit-down, he got to observe Ganguly at home during one of Kolkata’s biggest festivals, the kind of environment that shapes a person more than a scripted meeting could.

A meeting that doubles as prep

The visit is more than a festive invitation. Rao is set to play Ganguly in Dada: The Sourav Ganguly Story, and a real-life meeting with the cricketer gives the actor a close look at Dada’s world: his home rituals, his city, and the way Kolkata celebrates him.

Biopic performances often live or die by small, unscripted details. Spending a festival with the subject is a rare window into those details — the way Ganguly moves through a pandal, greets people and takes part in his own traditions — and that is exactly the texture a performance needs.

• Film: Dada: The Sourav Ganguly Story
• Director: Vikramaditya Motwane
• Produced by: Luv Ranjan and Ankur Garg under Luv Films
• Presented by: Gulshan Kumar, Bhushan Kumar, T-Series and DBL
• Release date: May 14, 2027, worldwide in cinemas

What this signals for the campaign

The film still has a long runway, but this Kolkata visit suggests a campaign that will lean into Ganguly’s lived world rather than rush a character reveal. Durga Puja is not just a backdrop in Dada’s story; it is part of the city that shaped him, and seeing the subject inside that celebration gives the production a texture no research folder can replicate.

The meeting also puts the actor and the man he will play in the same frame months before release. It is a warm, confident signal to fans who are already protective of the Dada legacy, and it gives the team an authentic festival moment to anchor the early storytelling.

Motwane’s involvement raises expectations for a film that treats its subject with care, and the pujo setting — with its rituals, crowds and emotional pull — offers exactly that. For now, the sweetest teaser is this one: Rao and Ganguly celebrating together, before the actor must carry that story on screen.

Source: bollywoodHungama.com

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#Dada biopic#Durga Puja#Luv Films#Mahashtami#Rajkummar Rao#Sourav Ganguly#T-Series#Vikramaditya Motwane