Matka

It takes more than a third of the film for Matka to even mention Matka, the gambling game invented by Vasu (Varun Tej), the ambitious protagonist who rises from nothing to become an Escobar-like figure in 1970s Visakhapatnam. Written and directed by Karuna Kumar, the film is loosely inspired by Ratan Khetri, dubbed the "Matka King" for his gambling empire in the '80s. Vasu conceives Matka after watching a group of labourers spending their hard-earned money on gambling. In a pompous turn, he demonstrates "Matka" to a train car full of passengers who are immediately hooked: if they guess the rig....