Producer Siddharth Roy Kapur has announced his next web series after the super successful ‘Aranyak’ on Netflix. Tentatively titled ‘Matka King’, the series will document the story of the rise of Ratan Khatri, the unchallenged king and founding father of gambling in India. Ratan Khatri was popularly known as ‘Matka King’ in Mumbai gambling circles, hence it’s apt that a series on his life be labelled thus.
Siddharth Roy Kapur has roped in talented director Nagraj Manjule to helm the ambitious project. Film buffs will know Nagraj Manjule as the director of festival favourite film, ‘Fandry’; the still-to-be-released Amitabh Bachchan starrer, ‘Jhund’; and ‘Sairat’, the Marathi movie of tragic, inter-caste love that still remains the highest-earning Marathi film ever.
‘Matka King’ will span a period of more than three decades, starting from the Bombay of the sixties, when Khatri first took steps to transform the world of ‘Matka’ gambling, a form of gambling that originated in Mumbai; to the nineties, when Ratan Khatri’s gambling empire spread nationwide, over which he reigned unchallenged until then.
Ratan Khatri not only transformed the world of gambling but also made it an acceptable form of betting that was popular with poor slum-dwellers as well as the rich upper class of tony Mumbai. Matka allowed one to bet as little as a rupee and earn thousands if one’s luck favoured the bet.
‘Matka King’ will be produced under the aegis of Siddharth Roy Kapur’s film production banner, ‘Roy Kapur Films’. The cast and remaining crew of ‘Matka King’ hasn’t been announced yet.
Said Siddharth Roy Kapur about the series, “Matka King is a story that promises to resonate with viewers across languages, geographies and cultures. It is an epic drama with a sweeping canvas, telling the story of the origins of matka, of the incredible man behind it and of how wealth became accessible to the masses, as this form of betting cut across all classes.”
Nagraj Manjule added, “This show will depict the reality of our world seen through the lives of the working classes whose lives depend on these everyday games of chance. Given the widespread popularity of matka and the enigmatic and powerful personality of our protagonist, we hope that ‘Matka King’ will provide a window into an exciting and transformational time in India, previously unexplored on screen before.”
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