‘Matka King’ series review: A cautionary tale on the cost of ambition that pays rich dividends

Can a house of cards be built on honesty and integrity? Can it hold the weight of ambition? Director Nagraj Manjule turns the irony into an eight-episode series that gives increasing returns. Inspired by the life of Ratan Khatri, the controversial figure who democratised the way Bombay gambled in the 1960s and 1970s by transforming a simple household earthen pot — used in homes for storing water — into a symbol of a massive underground gambling empire, the character-driven series captures how he positioned Matka not just as clever branding but a strategic innovation that made the game of numbers accessible, transparent, and scalable.

Widely known as Matka King, Khatri, who himself had a stake in the film industry, which, with its unorganised funding, was no less than a gamble in the 1970s, has inspired several cinematic avatars over the years. Manjule and co-writer Abhay Koranne have carved Brij Bhatti (Vijay Varma), a humble cotton trader with modest Partition refugee roots, who spots an important gap in the emerging metropolis while working for the old guard represented by the rapacious Lalji Bhai (Gulshan Grover). Why should only the rich enjoy high-stakes gambling at the race course or exclusive circles? He, with partners like a disgraced ex-soldier, Dagdu (Siddharth Jadhav), and an upper-class Parsi widow, Gulrukh (Kritika Kamra), launches Matka as an inclusive system where only luck matters.