Sourav No more at Sourav’s

In 2004,Ganguly was at the peak of his cricketing career,working his magic as India captain. Much has changed since.

So,as the Prince of Kolkata is doing his commentary assignments in England,the decision to shut down Sourav’s didn’t come as a surprise. In fact,Ganguly had been mulling on closing down the restaurant for the last few months. According to sources,he took the final decision before leaving for England.

Abhishek Entertainment and Foods Private Limited would be the new owner of the food joint and,as the place is undergoing renovation,they have promised to come up with new ideas.

“The restaurant was not doing well. So we have decided to shut down the business,” Snehashis Ganguly,Sourav’s elder brother,told The Indian Express .

As India captain,Ganguly transformed a demoralised Indian team and everything he touched had turned into gold. Of late,however,he is struggling with a few business ventures.

The plot of land he had acquired in Salt Lake from the erstwhile Left Front government to set up a school drew the ire of the locals and the matter went to the apex court. And Ganguly was the loser in the end. He had to hand over 63.04 cottahs to the state government.

Ganguly was upset after his dream plan was hit for a six by the Supreme Court. He is now contemplating on applying for another plot of land to fulfil his dream of setting up the school.

As far as the eatery at Park Street is concerned,initially,Ganguly was pretty hopeful about its prospects. And that was the reason why he decided to gain the full ownership of the restaurant in 2006. For the first two years,Abhishek Entertainment and Foods Private Limited was the owner of the restaurant-cum-lounge bar,while Ganguly allowed his name to be attached to it as he received a royalty.

In 2009,a sting had landed Sourav’s into a controversy with a Bengali news channel telecasting visuals of what it claimed that some “dance girls were negotiating with customers’” at the restaurant’s disco. Gradually,the eatery ran out of fresh entrants.

The question that was doing the rounds on Tuesday was,did Ganguly,too,pick the wrong menu? Earlier,Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag’s luck too ran out in food business and both of them had to shut their restaurants.