The creator and writer and director Nagraj Popatrao Manjule shared his series world building process and his work with actor Vijay Varma who plays the main character Brij Bhatti in Matka King which will premiere on Prime Video.

Manjule explained that he worked with Vijay because the actor dedicated himself to understanding both his character and the emotional depth of the story.

He said, “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.”

Manjule also recalled his first reaction when the idea of Matka King was brought to him by producers Ashish Aryan and Ashwini Sidwani. The moment he entered the location he felt an instant connection to the environment.

He said, “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.”

Manjule explained his method for writing the character of Brij Bhatti through two main sources which included his actual life experiences and his knowledge of people who share similar traits.

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 realized 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.”

Matka King is a film that Abhay Koranne created and wrote while Nagraj Popatrao Manjule created, wrote and directed the movie.

The movie features Kritika Kamra, Sai Tamhankar, Siddharth Jadhav, Bhupendra Jadawat and Gulshan Grover in major roles together with Bharat Jadhav, Girish Kulkarni, Jamie Lever, Kishor Kadam, Cyrus Sahukar, Arpita Sethia, Sambhaji Tangade, Ishtiyak Khan, Sanjivv Jotangia and Simran Ashwini.

The series will make its debut on April 17 throughout India and more than 240 countries and territories around the globe.