Sourav Ganguly to host Dadagiri Unlimited on Zee Bangla

Anurag Basu - Televisionpoint.com | Kolkata
Sourav Ganguly, former captain of the Indian cricket team and 'dada' for West Bengal's cricket fans will anchor Dadagiri Unlimited, a reality show on Zee Bangla.

The quiz show is not in the league of hardcore quiz shows, such as Bournvita Quiz Contest or Kaun Banega Crorepati, but it's modeled on the quiz format, designed to test the intelligence and sense of humour of the participants.

Starting July 27, Dadagiri Unlimited will be aired on Mondays to Wednesdays at 9:30 pm. It is replacing the kids' stand up comedy show, Mirakkel Akkel Challenger 4.

A whopping 821 contestants from the 19 districts in Bengal will take part in the 64-episode quiz contest. The winning district will win a cash prize of Rs 20 lakh. The seven rounds in the contest have names based on cricketing terminology such as toss, power play, cover drive, googly and slog over.

"Cricket was a lot easier. You could take bouncers to your body and even head. Anchoring a TV show is much more difficult," was what Sourav had to say when asked about his debut as the anchor of the show.

"I have to encourage nervous participants, which is very different. Cricket was easier, as was my role as cricket commentator. The only solace is the scope of retake if one goofs up. In cricket, there's no retake," Sourav said.

A senior official at Zee Bangla shares, "Ganguly is one of the most loved personalities in Kolkata as well as across the country. He has unmatched star power and is the pride of the state. We aspire to become a global Bangla channel."

"We already have another equally admired personality, actor Mithun Chakraborty, gracing the channel by being part of our show, Dance Bangla Dance. And with dada on board, we have two most admired personalities acting as the face of the channel." the official adds.

The channel is promoting the show heavily. To begin with, a creative campaign – playing upon the idea of inviting people to show their dadagiri with dada – was conceptualised and designed by the channel's creative agency, Response.

Zee Bangla began by airing teaser promos of the show, beginning March 7. It has a launch capsule and promos on Bengali news channels, 24 Ghanta and Star Ananda.

From Monday, print campaign for the show was also released. Print ads will appear in publications such as Anand Bazar Patrika, The Telegraph, Bartaman and Ganasakti.

For promotions on radio, Zee Bangla has roped in Radio Mirchi and Radio Mishty.

It has also used outdoor extensively. It has 88 outdoor exposures in Kolkata alone and claims to have put up as many as 231 hoardings in the rest of the state. The outdoor campaign was launched two weeks back.

In the past, Ganguly has appeared as a judge on NDTV Imagine for the show, Knights and Angels, where he was seen picking up the cheerleading squad for Kolkata Knight Riders.