‘Matka King’ review: A winning character study of an ‘honest gambler’

A heavily injured man is being taken to a hospital. What are the odds on him surviving, the people accompanying him want to know.

Brij Bhatti has been successful, so successful that even death is an opportunity. The numbers ace is behind forms of betting that ensure a fair shot for every player. He’s an honest gambler. Such a thing exists and he’s living proof of it.

How Brij Bhatti (Vijay Varma) got there is the subject of Nagraj Manjule’s first full-length Hindi series. Directed by Manjule and co-written with Abhay Koranne, Matka King follows a fictitious folk hero who creates a level playing field for punters.

The Hindi show on Prime Video, based on a concept by Ashish Aryan and inspired by real-life matka operator Ratan Khatri, begins in the mid-1960s. Brij parts ways with Lalji (Gulshan Grover), who runs an illegal gambling business based on cotton trades in Mumbai.

Brij creates a new game in which numbers are pulled out of a matka, an earthen pot. The ubiquitous receptacle indicates not only to Brij’s humble origins but also his clientele: Mumbai residents struggling to survive in an expensive city, eager for every extra rupee.

Brij’s USP is transparency, which makes him a wealthy man overnight. He’s aided by his...

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