Matka King
Director: Nagraj Manjule
Cast: Vijay Varma, Sai Tamhankar, Kritika Kamra, Gulshan Grover, Siddharth Jadhav, Girish Kulkarni
Rating: ★★.5
There is a scene in Nagraj Manjule’s Matka King where the titular gambling kingpin Brij Bhatti (Vijay Varma) is being apprised of the risks his new venture has. The debonair risk taker chuckles and delivers a one-liner about how he can manage it. One almost expects him to mouth ‘Risk hai to ishq hai’ line from Scam 1992. The set-up, vibe, and beat are all so similar that you cannot help but feel that if the protagonists were swapped, not much would change in the two shows. But at least Scam 1992 had originality on its side. Matka King, despite being entertaining and engaging, is a testament to how similar and templated Indian OTT titles have become of late. The sameness has crept into the ‘hatke’ platform, just like it did with films. And if an auteur like Nagraj Manjule is also not untouched and unblemished by formula, then is there truly any hope left?
Matka King is a fictional tale, no doubt inspired by the real matka kings of Bombay – Ratan Khatri and Kalyanji Bhagat. Here, they turn into Brij Bhatti and Lalji bhai (Gulshan Grover). Brij emerges from the shadow of his boss in the 1960s, establishing matka. But while Lalji is content to work unscrupulously, Brij is all about honesty. Even gamblers should have a code. He rises as a messiah for the hopeful, even as the establishment wants to tie him down.
Set in the Bombay of the 1960s and 1970s, Matka King correctly captures the city’s ambience and character. It opens in a city teeming with mill workers, eager to make it big and change their fortunes. Nagraj Manjule brings to the fore the anxiety of the poor and contrasts it with the elites of South Bombay, who are yet to realise that the British are gone and that the world is changing. The production design and art direction are top-notch, as is the casting, particularly of the ensemble next to Vijay.
The story moves freely, too, with almost every episode ending on a cliffhanger, and the narrative packing enough meat to keep the viewers engaged. But what rankles is the use of templated tropes that can be seen from a mile and a half away. The plot twists are predictable, the arcs are done and dusted, and the character growth is something we have all seen before. The newness one expects from streaming is slowly being diluted, and Matka King is a stark example. To Nagraj Manjule’s credit, he weaves the narrative deftly, blending the happenings in Brij’s life and game with historical events, some real, many fictional. The blend of history and reality is something Indian OTT has done well, historically (no pun intended).
Where the show falters is in how it treats the protagonist and the women around him. We see Brij as an honest, family man, married to a supportive woman (Sai Tamhankar). But then he meets Gulrukh (Kritika Kamra), a Parsi widow from south Bombay, who becomes his gateway into the city’s rich. An affair blossoms, and Brij’s ethics are challenged. Except the show hardly addresses that. For a man who talks about imaandaari twice an episode, this infidelity betrays his duality. And yet, he is never called out for it. Anytime the show even attempts to expose Brij’s ‘dishonesty’, it finds justifications for him, placing him beyond reproach. That elevates the character to a pedestal, rather than daring to show his faults, making him human. Even when the show talks about his faults, through the two women, it invariably finds fault in their behaviour. Gulrukh is ambitious, and Barkha feels stifled. Matka King views their differences through a warped lens, failing to offer them the neutrality and respect they deserve.
What redeems the entire narrative are the performances. Vijay Varma hardly puts a foot wrong in the eight-episode runtime. He is just at home as ambitious, young Brij as he is as the matka king Bhatti seth. The transition is smooth, and Vijay’s portrayal of that growth is commendable. The other standout, for me, is Girish Kulkarni as the idealistic journalist TP. The veteran Marathi actor is not just unrecognisable with a brand-new look, but also delivers a memorable performance in what could easily have been a two-tone role. Kritika Kamra deserves a mention for her portrayal of the young South Bombay Parsi girl. The actor even modulates her voice and brings quiet restraint to both grief and anger. Sai Tamhankar, yet again, stands out with a class act. Siddharth Jadhav, as the show’s narrator and Brij’s man Friday, Dagdu, also excels.
Matka King could have been the best Indian show this year. It had the right ingredients. But it fell prey to an inability to take risks. Ironically enough, a show on gambling suffers because its makers refused to roll the dice more.
Matka King is streaming on Prime Video.
