About Matka King
Matka King is a 2026 Indian Hindi-language period crime drama released on Amazon Prime Video, set in the Bombay of the 1960s. It follows Brij Bhatti, a modest and enterprising cotton trader who, sensing an opportunity in a city hungry for a fairer game of chance, devises a numbers-based betting system that spreads rapidly through the working districts. As the game catches on, Brij is transformed from an ordinary merchant into one of the most influential operators in the city's underground economy. The series treats this rise as a study of ambition rather than spectacle, framing the period and its milieu with a restrained, observational eye.
Created by Nagraj Manjule and Abhay Koranne and directed by Manjule, the series stars Vijay Varma as Brij Bhatti, with Sai Tamhankar as his wife Barkha Bhatti and Kritika Kamra as Gulrukh, a figure who becomes entwined with Brij's ascent. Across eight episodes the story charts how a single idea reshapes not only Brij's fortunes but the relationships around him, as the pressures of money, reputation, and power begin to test the people he holds closest. The ensemble also features Bhupendra Jadawat, Siddharth Jadhav, Gulshan Grover, and others drawn from across Hindi and Marathi cinema.
Reviewers highlighted Vijay Varma's central performance and the show's textured recreation of mid-century Bombay, from its crowded markets to its changing social fabric. Rather than glorifying its subject, Matka King is positioned as a cautionary period saga about how greed can quietly reshape a person's values as they climb from poverty toward power, and about the human cost paid by those around them. Following a strong launch, Amazon Prime Video commissioned a second season, with the first run reported as one of the service's most-watched recent Indian scripted titles.
