Reviewed & compiled by the IndianOTTReview Critics Desk, aggregating verdicts from India’s leading entertainment publications.
About Matka King
In this fictional tale set in 1960s Mumbai, an enterprising cotton trader who craves legitimacy and respect, starts a new gambling game dubbed ‘Matka’, that takes the city by storm and democratizes a terrain previously reserved for the rich and elite.
Official Trailer
Skip It | Reviews Counted: 3
✓ Positive: 1
~ Neutral: 1
✗ Negative: 1
Reviews From All Critics
Rating: 2.5/5 · Hindustan Times ·
Mixed ~
Matka King could have been the best Indian show this year. It had the right ingredients. But it fell prey to an inability to take risks. Ironically enough, a show on gambling suffers because its makers refused to roll the dice more.
Rating: 3.5/5 · Times of India ·
Positive ✓
Watch it for Vijay Varma’s performance and the intriguing glimpse into Bombay’s Matka era, even if the storytelling doesn’t always hit the jackpot.
Rating: 2.0/5 · Indian Express ·
Negative ✗
The thing that has made Manjule one of the most powerful storytellers working currently is his ability to infuse his best work (Fandry, Sairat) with social and political inequities. In this one, what should have been the most important element of the show, the matka-addicted mill-workers and their unions whose movement kept Bombay’s greedy sharks at bay, remain a scratchy backdrop.
Production Details & Cast
Creators / Directors: Nagraj Popatrao Manjule, Abhay Koranne
Starring Cast: Vijay Varma, Kritika Kamra, Sai Tamhankar, Siddharth Jadhav
For comprehensive community notes and global audience metrics, check out our master summary directory on the All Reviews Timeline.
Critical Consensus: 3 critics were counted for Matka King Season 1, averaging 2.7/5 (Skip It). 1 came back positive, 1 mixed, and 1 negative — Times of India scored it highest at 3.5/5, while Indian Express was toughest at 2.0/5.