Brand Ambassador of Kolkata

Kolkata — the City of Joy, the cultural capital of eastern India, the city of Tagore and Netaji, of Durga Puja and rosogolla, of the Hooghly riverfront and the thundering Eden Gardens — is one of India’s most historically magnificent and culturally layered cities, carrying the legacy of the British Indian Empire’s first capital alongside a Bengali intellectual tradition that has produced more Nobel laureates, national film award winners, and literary giants per capita than virtually any city on earth. The brand ambassadors of Kolkata span the city’s most beloved cultural institution — the Kolkata Knight Riders and their celebrity ownership — alongside its state-level representatives in the West Bengal context, with two names standing above all others as the city’s most compelling ambassadors to the world: Shah Rukh Khan, whose KKR ownership has made him an adopted Kolkata icon, and Sourav Ganguly, Bengal’s greatest son and India’s most celebrated cricket captain.

Kolkata Brand Ambassador Portfolio — City, KKR, and Cultural Context

Sourav Ganguly — Kolkata and Bengal’s Defining Ambassador

Sourav Ganguly’s appointment as brand ambassador of West Bengal on November 21, 2023 by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at the seventh Bengal Global Business Summit was the most significant ambassador appointment in the state’s recent history — bringing Bengal’s greatest sporting son into formal state service for investment promotion, cultural representation, and the positioning of West Bengal as a globally connected destination for business and tourism.

Ganguly’s connection to Kolkata is not merely biographical but mythological in its depth within Bengali culture. Born in Behala, educated at St Xavier’s Collegiate School, and shaped by Bengal’s cricket tradition, he rose to become the captain who transformed Indian cricket from a touring side that frequently capitulated under pressure to a team that would compete fearlessly anywhere in the world. His 2001 Test series win at home against Australia — overturning a follow-on deficit that had been bridged only twice in cricket history — remains arguably the greatest moment in Indian cricket history, and its architect was a proud Bengali from Kolkata.

As BCCI president from 2019 to 2022, Ganguly demonstrated that his capabilities extended beyond batting to cricket administration at the highest institutional level, giving West Bengal an ambassador whose name commands recognition in every boardroom and cricket ground in the world. When international corporate delegations arrive at the Bengal Global Business Summit from South Korea, Japan, Germany, and the United States, Ganguly’s presence as ambassador provides a cultural credibility shorthand — communicating Bengal’s ambition, excellence, and global standards through the most recognisable Bengali face on the international stage.

Shah Rukh Khan and KKR — The Cultural Adoption Story

Shah Rukh Khan’s relationship with Kolkata is one of Indian popular culture’s most endearing celebrity-city love stories — built initially on his West Bengal tourism ambassadorship accepted in 2012 and deepened immeasurably through his KKR co-ownership that has made him more genuinely beloved in Bengal than virtually anywhere outside Delhi, where he grew up. Khan’s personal heritage includes meaningful connections to Bengal — his father spent years in Kolkata, he has spoken warmly about the city’s cultural warmth and the Bengali intellectual tradition — giving his ambassador relationships with the state an authenticity that purely contractual arrangements never generate.

KKR — co-owned by Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla, and Jay Mehta — has become one of Indian cricket’s most glamorous and commercially successful franchises partly because its Bollywood ownership creates a permanent celebrity aura around the team that generates entertainment media coverage alongside sports coverage. The franchise’s three IPL titles in 2012, 2014, and 2024 have cemented its status as a genuinely successful sporting enterprise rather than merely a celebrity-owned marketing vehicle.

The 2024 IPL triumph under Shreyas Iyer was KKR’s most emphatic championship — winning eight matches without loss, bowling opponents out six times, and defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad in the final at Chennai to claim the title in front of what felt like an entire nation watching. Shah Rukh Khan’s emotional celebrations at Eden Gardens and in the KKR box during the tournament generated some of Indian cricket’s most joyfully viral fan moments, demonstrating how completely the Bollywood superstar has been adopted as Kolkata’s own.

KKR’s Brand Identity — Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo

KKR’s brand identity is built around the Bengali phrase Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo — we will do, we will fight, we will win — which has become one of cricket’s most resonant team mantras and reflects the spirit of Bengali cultural pride that the franchise actively cultivates.

KKR’s 2026 IPL season expanded its brand presence through a landmark outdoor campaign across Kolkata — spanning more than 75,000 square feet of billboard space across 65 locations, LED boards and metro branding, and a hand-painted four-storey mural on Rashbehari Avenue near Bijan Setu featuring players Varun Chakravarthy, Ajinkya Rahane, and Rinku Singh. The mural’s theme — Prothom Bhalobasha KKR, meaning First Love KKR in Bengali — captures the emotional truth of what this franchise means to Kolkata, and what Kolkata means to the franchise. In this city, sport and culture and emotion are inseparable — and the brand ambassadors who represent Kolkata most authentically are those who understand and embody all three simultaneously.