Matka King
Written by Abhay Koranne
Directed by Nagraj Manjule
Starring
  • Vijay Varma
  • Bhupendra Jadawat
  • Sai Tamhankar
  • Kritika Kamra
  • Gulshan Grover
Country of origin India
Original language Hindi
No. of seasons 1
No. of episodes 8
Production
Executive producers Rahul Gandhi
Ashwini Sidwani
Producers Siddharth Roy Kapur
Nagraj Manjule
Ashish Aryan
Ashwini Sidwani
Gargi Kulkarni
Cinematography Sudhakar Reddy Yakkanti
Editor Nitin Baid
Running time 43-62 minutes
Production companies Roy Kapoor Films
Aatpat Production
SMR Entertainment
Original release
Network Amazon Prime Video
Release 17 April 2026 (2026-04-17)

Matka King is a 2026 Indian Hindi-language television series created by Nagraj Manjule for Amazon Prime Video. It stars Vijay Varma, Sai Tamhankar, Kritika Kamra and Gulshan Grover in lead roles.[1][2]

Cast

  • Vijay Varma as Matka King Brij Bhatti
  • Sai Tamhankar as Barkha (Brij's wife)
  • Bhupendra Jadawat as Laxman/Lachu (Brij's brother)
  • Kritika Kamra as Gulrukh
  • Gulshan Grover as Lalji bhai
  • Siddharth Jadhav as Dagdu
  • Jamie Lever as Sulbha
  • Bharat Jadhav as Sub Inspector Eknath Tumbade
  • Girish Kulkarni as TP D'souza
  • Kishor Kadam as Prashant Bapat
  • Cyrus Sahukar as Maqsood
  • Vineet Kumar Singh as Darab
  • Simran Ashwini as Vasudha

Source:[3]

Release

Matka King was released on 17 April 2026 at Amazon Prime Video.[4][5]

Reception

Anuj Kumar for The Hindu wrote "‘Matka King’ turns out to be a familiar but gripping crime drama that is worth betting on."[6]

Shubhra Gupta for The Indian Express rated the series 2/5 stars and stated "the matka-addicted mill-workers and their unions whose movement kept Bombay’s greedy sharks at bay, remain a scratchy backdrop."[7]

Rahul Desai for The Hollywood Reporter India wrote "Along the way, there are glimpses of the intellect buried within the algorithm."[8]

Deepansh Duggal for The Quint stated "Instead of unfolding organically, the plot feels like it is delivered in bursts, with too much information packed into too little time."[9] Nandini Ramnath for Scroll.in felt that "The eight-episode show suffers from a bit of bloat and threadbare production values."[10] Sana Farzeen of India Today rated the series 3/5 stars and stated "At eight episodes, it feels indulgent."[11]

Tatsam Mukherjee of The Wire expressed "No man-woman pair in the show can do so without falling in love, which I found too escapist and dated."[12]

References

  1. ^ "Matka King". GAdget 360. Retrieved 18 April 2026.
  2. ^ Mitra, Shilajit (15 April 2026). "How A 'Matka King' Was Born: Vijay Varma, Nagraj Manjule on Their Gambling Series". The Hollywood Reporter India. Retrieved 19 April 2026.
  3. ^ Mehrotra, Suchin (17 April 2026). "Matka King Web Series Review | Suchin Mehrotra | THR India". The Hollywood Reporter India. Retrieved 19 April 2026.
  4. ^ "'Matka King': Vijay Varma's Prime Video series gets a release date; teaser out". The Hindu. 29 March 2026. Retrieved 19 April 2026.
  5. ^ Raghav, Vanshika (17 April 2026). "New Friday OTT Releases (April 17, 2026): Matka King, Assi, Roommates- Watch these 5 movies and TV shows on Netflix, Prime Video, JioHotstar and more". WION. Retrieved 19 April 2026.
  6. ^ Kumar, Anuj (17 April 2026). "'Matka King' series review: A cautionary tale on the cost of ambition that pays rich dividends". The Hindu. Retrieved 19 April 2026.
  7. ^ Gupta, Shubhra (17 April 2026). "Matka King review: Vijay Varma show lacks zest and sharpness". The Indian Express. Retrieved 19 April 2026.StarStar
  8. ^ Desai, Rahul (17 April 2026). "'Matka King' Series Review: A Gambling Drama That Takes No Risks". The Hollywood Reporter India. Retrieved 19 April 2026.
  9. ^ Duggal, Deepansh (17 April 2026). "'Matka King' Review: A Flawed but Compelling Rise of a Gambling Don". The Quint. Retrieved 19 April 2026.{{rating|3|5
  10. ^ Ramnath, Nandini (17 April 2026). "'Matka King' review: A winning character study of an 'honest gambler'". Scroll.in. Retrieved 19 April 2026.
  11. ^ Farzeen, Sana (17 April 2026). "Matka King review: Vijay Varma wins big, but the series misses the jackpot". India Today. Retrieved 19 April 2026.StarStarStar
  12. ^ Mukherjee, Tatsam (17 April 2026). "'Matka King': Nagraj Manjule's Series Repeats Genre Beats, Falls into Familiar Traps". The Wire. Retrieved 19 April 2026.