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The series is said to be inspired by Ratan Khatri, the matka king of Mumbai. Khatri was the kingpin of the matka, a form of betting, which became one of the most lucrative ‘underground’ gambling forms in India, originating from the British days.
Over here, it extends from the 1960s and goes on until 1975, when Emergency was declared in the country.
In a gamble of their own, the distribution platform, Amazon Prime Video, and the makers, have pre-decided to have another season, with this one ending on a cliffhanger of a seriously-wounded Brij Bhatti. Bhatti is the protagonist who initiates the matka (denoting an earthenware pot) from which the lucky numbers are taken out.
However, early on, with each episode stretched massively without the requisite substance, I sensed that the story is going to maintain the pace of a rather lazy snail, and my worst fears came true. The 8 episodes are each 46 to an hour-plus long and there is precisely nothing new here.
What we get to see here is the journey of a man who, apart from the matka that destroys human beings’ morals and their families, is scrupulously ‘honest’ in his dealings in that field.
Deewaar (1975) fashion, his principles gradually alienate his kith and kin: his brother Laxman (Bhupendra Jadawat), his wife Barkha (Sai Tamhankar), his friend and later mistress Gulrukh (Kritika Kamra) and even his staunch lieutenant, the ex-armyman, Dagdu (Siddharth Jadhav). The enemy-turned-friend-turned-enemy again, Laljibhai (Gulshan Grover) also turns against him, and so do the usual coterie of corrupt cops and politicians.
The usual double-crosses, twists and turns and a whole lot of ‘surprises’ later, we find Brij a lonely man who decides to get arrested also because his life is in danger. But the assailants are waiting in jail as well, his death ordered by the don Darab (Vineet Kumar Singh) when Brij turns down an association with a deal.
There is some in-between gobbledygook about Brij winning an election with one Antule (Ashish Suresh Khachane) but nothing comes of it later! An extortionist (Ishtiyak Arif Khan) turns into Brij’s constant benefactor. There is a ruffled editor (unknown actor) and the honest-to-goodness principled journalist (Girish Kulkarni), an upright cop (Bharat Jadhav), Laljibhai’s wily daughter, Vasudha (Simran Ashwini), who marries Laxman, a film producer and actor Maqsood (Cyrus Sahukar)—Brij also splurges on producing a film—and Dagdu’s girlfriend (Jamie Lever) among others in this hyper-basket of characters strumming in, remaining or exiting.
A thriller (in intent) like this needed a man on the go to direct the film, not an arty narration-inclined director like Nagraj Popatrao Manjule, and the series’ casualty quotient spikes irrevocably due to this. Hungry for excessive detail, dotting each ‘i’ and crossing each ‘t’ the series reeks of stagnancy in pace, template incidents and thus sheer predictability in content (which was the nightmare part of Manjule’s last Hindi film, “Jhund”).
Technically decent, the series has overdone background music (Ajay Jayanthi) and laxxxxxxxxx (!) editing (Rohit Rajendra Rukade). The performances are also a mixed bag. Vijay Varma dives deep into his complex character and this is a great addition to his roster of memorable performances. Sai Tamhankar and Kritika Kamra are clearly hampered by monotonous, one-dimensional characters. Siddharth Jadhav is superb as Dagdu and Gulshan Grover does the needful with his standard villainy as Laljibhai. Bharat Jadhav stands out as the honest sub-inspector Eknath Tumbade, ditto Girish Kulkarni as the passionate journalist D’Souza. Arpita Sethia, as the loyal to the last Rukmini, is excellent.
Wish the saga was too.
Rating: **1/2
Amazon Prime Video presents Roy Kapur Films’ Aatpat Production’s & SMR Entertainment’s Matka King Produced by: Siddharth Roy Kapur, Nagraj Manjule, Ashish Aryan, Ashwini Sidwani & Gargi Kulkarni Created and directed by: Nagraj Popatrao Manjule Written by: Nagraj Popatrao Manjule, Ashish Aryan, Abhay Koranne Music: Amit Trivedi, Parag Chhabra & B. Prasanna Starring: Vijay Varma, Sai Tamhankar, Bhupendra Jadawat, Kritika Kamra, Gulshan Grover, Siddharth Jadhav, Cyrus Sahukar, Arpita Sethia, Jamie Lever, Istayak Arif Khan, Bharat Jadhav, Girish Kulkarni, Kishor Kadam, Vineet Kumar Singh, Simran Ashwini & others
