Entertainment Review: Matka King

Matka King, the period drama set in 1960s Mumbai, directed by Nagraj Popatrao Manjule, attempts to do for the street gambling scene what Scam 1992 did for the stock market.

Like Harshad Mehta, who manipulated Dalal Street, Ratan Khatri was another colourful Mumbai legend, who had the smarts to create his own gambling method, which he called Matka (earthen pot), since in the beginning, winning numbers were pulled out of pots, which was later replaced by more a complicated game using playing cards.

Vijay Varma plays Brij Bhatti, the low paid employee of cotton trader Laljibhai (Gulshan Grover). Brij was a refugee from Sindh, who raised his good-for-nothing brother, Lachu (Bhupendra Jadawat). Laljibhai runs a rigged gambling racket, that exploits the greed and need of the working class.

Deep in debt due to the antics of his brother, Brij starts his own gambling scheme, but resolves to be honest and transparent. Despite the efforts of Laljibhai to ruin him, Brij succeeds. He has a loyal aide, Dagdu (Siddharth Jadhav), and surprisingly, a rich Parsi woman, Gulrukh (Kritika Kamra) who becomes his partner and lover.

Manjule and his co-writer, Abhay Koranne make the point that if the rich can gamble at race courses, and even the Government of Maharashtra runs a lottery, then why is Matka wrong? By turning his protagonist into a white-clad crusader for the poor, the moral issues with his enterprise are overlooked.

Mumbai of the period, with mills being the spine of the economy, and the build up to the Emergency provide the background for Brij’s rise. The politician (Kishor Kadam), who tries to stop him, is corrupt himself. A journalist (Girish Kulkarni) is discouraged by his boss from pursuing the story.

Brij’s wealth and fame zoom up, causing a rift in his marriage to Barkha (Sai Tamhankar) and estrangement with his son. His relentless drive eventually alienates his brother, who allies with Lalji, and also the faithful Dagdu.

When he refuses to enter into a partnership with a Dongri gangster, Darab (Vineet Kumar Singh), for the first time, it looks like it is time for the end of his reign.

Matka King is more than just a rags-to-riches story; it is a look at a city and country in a socio-political flux. The series, like its protagonist is low key, avoiding the elements of the usual crime drama- shootouts, cabaret dens and suchlike. At the risk of boring the audience, it focuses on the process of the game—the tension of the number draw, the logistics of the huge, countrywide net, and the psychological grip that “umeed” (hope) has on the working class. As Brij says,   “Ameer ho ya gareeb, sabka petrol ek hi hai—ummeed.”

​At eight episodes, the pacing occasionally falters. The narrative lingers too long on subplots involving Bollywood and cricket betting, which, while historically accurate, are not satisfactorily tied up in the show.

Varma plays Brij Bhatti with a shrewd intelligence; if he had managed a Sindhi accent, his performance would have been enhanced. The supporting cast is excellent and the period details carefully recreated. For older viewers, it would be nostalgia, for youngsters, discovery of a minor but also significant Mumbai legend.