Vijay Varma’s Matka King Rolls Dice Again: Season 2 Officially In Works

The

period drama Matka King has gotten the greenlight on a second season. The first season of the Amazon Prime Video series, starring Vijay Varma in the title role, premiered on April 17 and quickly captured the interest of audiences. It ranked number one in 17 countries and even broke into the streaming service's Top 10 across 37 countries in its first week. Set against the dynamic and turbulent backdrop of 1960s Bombay, the show follows the rise of Brij Bhatti (Vijay Varma) who introduces the addictive game into the cosmopolitan, global city.

Matka King Season 2 announcement

On social media, Amazon Prime Video shared that Season 2 was officially in development. Besides Varma as the Matka King, the ensemble cast includes Kritika Kamra, Sai Tamhankar, Siddharth Jadhav, Bhupendra Jadawat, and Gulshan Grover, with Bharat Jadhav, Girish Kulkarni, and Jamie Lever in supporting roles.

The Hindi series has been created and written by Abhay Koranne. National Award-winning filmmaker Nagraj Popatrao Manjule is also a creator, writer and director on the project. Produced by Roy Kapur Films, Aatpat, and SMR Entertainment, the first season of Matka King has eight episodes.The series is inspired by Sindhi businessman Ratan Khatri in Mumbai. He bettered an already existing gambling game and fine-tuned it into his own where players draw numbered chits from a matka (earthen pot). The game was more open and drew better returns than his competitors. Manjule makes his web series debut with the show. He revealed in an interview that he was drawn to the economic and sociopolitical landscape of post-Independence Mumbai that led to the emergence of Matka.

More about Matka King

In the show, protagonist Brij Bhatti starts out as a simple cotton trader who becomes the city's illegal gambling kingpin. His ‘Matka’ game takes over the city and levels the gambling terrain previously lorded over by the rich and elite. But his wealth and power ascending, Brij begins to lose his way.

Sai Tamhankar plays Barkha Bhatti, Brij's wife, while Bhupendra Jadawat plays Laxman "Lachu" Bhatti, Brij's brother. Kritika Kamra essays the role of Parsi widow Gulrukh and Gulshan Grover plays Laljibhai Chaggani. The streamer called Brij Bhatti’s rise as the Mata King equal parts fascinating and cautionary.

Vijay Varma's upcoming projects

Last seen in the period romance drama Gustaakh Ishq with Fatima Sana Shaikh earlier this year, Varma will be gearing up for a second season of the new show. He is also set to star in the Netflix series Family Business with Anil Kapoor later this year.