Did Matka King bring Ratan Khatri's ties with real Bollywood star to life? How Vijay Varma show blends fact with fiction

Matka King is a fictionalised take on the rise of Ratan Khatri, the gambling baron who popularised matka in Mumbai and other parts of the country.

Matka King, the newest show from the Prime Video stable, is currently enjoying great success on the platform. It has become the most-watched Indian show on the streamer in the last two years, beating some rather bigger names. A lot of it has been due to the buzz the show generated with its premise - the tale of a gambling baron from when Mumbai was Bombay. And even as the makers have maintained the plot is fictional, the story of Brij Bhatti (the protagonist) borrows heavily from the rise and fall of the original matka king Ratan Khatri.

Matka King stars Vijay Varma as the titular gambling baron, modelled after Ratan Khatri.

One episode borrowed from Khatri’s life is his love for Bollywood. After he established a fledgling matka business in Bombay in the 60s, Ratan Khatri wanted to diversify his businesses. He began frequenting film sets and even financed several films in the 70s. The show presents one such film, slightly fictionalising the episode, but keeping the real-life inspiration intact.

Spoilers for Matka King ahead!

In the show, Brij Bhatti (Vijay Varma) meets film star Maqsood (Cyrus Sahukar) at a party organised by his associate and paramour, Gulrukh (Kritika Kamra). He is soon invited to invest in Maqsood’s next film, which he does. But eventually, when the film releases, Maqsood does not invite Brij onto the stage with the other co-producers, leaving him humiliated.

How Matka King blends fact with engaging fiction

The real-life Brij, Ratan Khatri, was a regular at many film sets and was known to invest in film productions, but without getting his name involved. A source informs HT that the Maqsood character was based on comedy legend Mehmood, who starred in several mid-budget comedy and romance films in the 60s and 70s, some of which were said to have been financed by Khatri. However, there is no evidence that the two also had a fallout similar to Brij and Maqsood in the show. “That part could have been added for dramatic effect,” informs the source.

Ratan Khatri did have a legitimate career as a film producer, though it was very brief. In 1976, he produced a film titled Rangila Ratan (not very subtle with the branding). The film, directed by S Ramanathan, starred Rishi Kapoor, Parveen Babi, and Ashok Kumar in the lead roles. The film merely borrowed Ratan’s name but had no connection to his life or even to the matka business. It was not a box-office success, discouraging Khatri from ever venturing into films again.

Directed by Nagraj Manjule and produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur's RKF, Matka King stars Vijay Varma, Kritika Kamra, Sai Tamhankar, Bhupendra Jadawat, Gulshan Grover, Siddharth Jadhav, Jamie Lever, Bharat Jadhav, Girish Kulkarni, and Kishor Kadam in pivotal roles, with guest appearances by Cyrus Sahukar and Vineet Kumar Singh.