Ratan Khatri, India’s Matka King needs no introduction. Starting as a small-time wheeler-dealer, he rose to the biggest heights and got the nickname (title) of ‘Matka King’. Khatri was instrumental in spreading the net of Matka across the length and breadth of the country. Khatri, who belongs to a Sindhi family of Momedian, came to Mumbai from Karachi, Pakistan, in 1947 and made the city of dreams his kingdom of Satta Matka.
Filmmaker, Nagraj Manjule, famous for his blockbuster film ‘Sairat,’ is now entering in to the web series world with his first series to be directed by him on Ratan Khatri. Titled “Matka King,” the series is said to be inspired by true events and based on the life of the Karachi-born Ratan Khatri, the founding father of gambling in India.
The backdrop of the series is set in the period between 1960 and 1990. The series will capture the culture of Mumbai’s working class during the 1960s and 1970s and it will show how money moved through informal economy and influenced the nations power structure.
According to Nagraj, this will be his first step into the world of web series, which is becoming the trend of new-generation entertainment world. “I am looking forward to this new opportunity of being able to tell a very unique and captivating story on OTT and partnering with Sid Roy Kapur who shares a common creative vision,” Nagraj told KoiMoi adding, he believes that the viewers will enjoy the world of Matka King as much as he is enjoying the process of making it.
Matka is considered to be an illegal way of gambling in India, but still, it operates across the country on an epic scale. Now with the revolution in the tech world, people can Play Matka legally online from their comfort of their homes. But during those days, this facility was not available and that made the entire trade very challenging and rocky at times.
The web series has been produced by the famous Siddharth Roy Kapur, under the banner of Roy Kapur Films. Kapur said that Nagraj Manjule’s Sairat is one of his favourite movies of the last decade. “I’m thrilled to be collaborating with him to tell this fascinating story that we hope will resonate with viewers across India and the world,” he added. Siddharth has recently produced Raveena Tandon-starrer Netflix show Aranyak.
Although the announcement about the production of the web series has been made in the media, the star cast is not yet finalized.
According to NewsBytes Abhishek Bachchan, who played the character of Harshad Mehta in ‘Big Bull,’ could be the first choice of the producers, but nothing has been come out as an official announcement. ‘Sacred Games’ star Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who always adds an element of empathy to his character which touches the audience, could be the second choice of the producers.
Pratik Gandhi’s name is also doing the rounds. He portrayed Harshad Mehta in the web series ‘Scam 1992’. All these characters are very close to the image of Matka King Ratan Khatri. But these are all speculations and the decision of the producers will be revealed in the coming days.
