Nagraj Popatrao Manjule Talks About Vijay Varma, His ‘Matka King’ Hero!

A world once lived, and a character shaped through observation, come together in Prime Video’s Matka King. As the series gears up for its launch, creator, writer, and director Nagraj Popatrao Manjule shares what drew him to this space and how he approached building Brij Bhatti, an intelligent, daring man whose strength lies in his honesty. Here’s what went into crafting Matka King:

On working with #VijayVarma and building Brij Bhatti, Nagraj shared, “Vijay is a fantastic actor, and what I truly admire about him is how deeply he thinks about his character. He constantly asks questions, wanting to understand why his character behaves a certain way in each scene. We would often sit together to discuss scenes before shooting. Since I like to leave some room for spontaneity and last-minute changes, Vijay’s questions pushed us beyond our limits and helped us bring out the best in every scene, because Matka King is a game of details. He worked with great patience and poured his heart into the role, and now, when you see it, he truly looks like a hero in the series.”

On his first reaction to the world of Matka, Nagraj added, “When Ashish (Aryan) and Ashwini (Sidwani) brought the idea of Matka King to me, my first reaction was that it had been very popular when I was a kid. Later, when we were with Siddharth (Roy Kapur) sir and planning the story, my instinct was that this was an interesting world I had known since childhood, so I was excited about the idea.”

On understanding Brij Bhatti as a character, he stated, “I have seen a lot of people like Brij Bhatti, and when we were in the writing process, as I was trying to understand the character, I realised he is an intelligent man, almost like a scientist. He invented a game, and to create it, you needed daring. And yet, at his core, his strength is his honesty.”
Created and written by Abhay Koranne and created, written and directed by Nagraj Popatrao Manjule, the series features Vijay Varma, Kritika Kamra, Sai Tamhankar, Siddharth Jadhav, Bhupendra Jadawat, and Gulshan Grover in lead roles. The cast also boasts Bharat Jadhav, Girish Kulkarni, Jamie Lever, Kishor Kadam, Cyrus Sahukar, Arpita Sethia, Sambhaji Tangade, Ishtiyak Khan, Sanjivv Jotangia, and Simran Ashwini in key roles. Matka King is set to premiere exclusively on Prime Video in India and across 240 countries and territories worldwide on April 17.

By Keerti Kadam