Matka Review: Varun Tej in unofficial biopic

Movie name: Matka
Release Date: 14 November 2024
Cast: Varun Tej, Meenakshi Chaudhary, and Nora Fatehi
Director: Karuna Kumar
Producers: Vijender Reddy Teegala, Rajani Talluri
Music: Devi Sri Prasad

Matka Rating: 1/5

Varun tej has been taking up challenging and experimental roles from the movie ‘Gaddala Konda Ganesh’. But he has been facing successive disasters with the movies ‘Gani’, ‘Gandhiwadari Arjuna’ and ‘Operation Valentine’. Varun Tej, who has a hat-trick of disasters in a row, So he took a little gap and made a movie called ‘Matka’ under the direction of director Karuna Kumar. This film features Meenakshi Chaudhary as the lead actress opposite Varun Tej.

Story:

Matka movie story is Set between the years 1958 and 1982. This story is based on the Matka gambling scams that rocked the country in the 20th century. The spine-chilling real-life events are now in front of everyone in the form of cinema unveiling the dark secrets.

Vasu (Varun Tej), a refugee from Burma, comes to Visakhapatnam in 1958 to look for his mother Bathukuderu. Vasu goes to jail in a murder case and later becomes a fighter. Vasu’s adventurous nature, courage and desire to become rich make him a powerful gangster. What is Matka? How does Vasu become Matka King? What happens to him after that? What about his love life with Sujatha (Meenakshi Chaudhary) who comes into his life? All of these are answered on screen.

Matka Review:

With high-octane action sequences, Varun Tej’s vintage look, thrilling twists and powerful punch dialogues, This film is a bomb. Finally actor is coming out of his comfort zone and exploring new genre. Director Karuna Kumar did a commendable job in showcasing Varun in multiple looks , which is so unique and worked well in this action flick.

Overall Matka is another commercial formula story about commercial hero. Overall, ‘Matka’ was disappointing in all aspects. Background music like this cannot be expected from GV Prakash Kumar. His music was a plus point for the previous movies Amaran and Lucky Bhaskar, But this didn’t work for this film. But, The screenplay is flat. Cinematography, vintage properties and Varun Tej’s looks are good. But in terms of looks, Varun Tej’s aged look is very strange. This is a minus point.

This kind of story is not something South audience enjoy. But the director made an effort but failed in creating a good film out of an interesting genre. Varun Tej looks young and inappropriate even where he is supposed to look like an aged gangster. Meenakshi Chaudhary appeared in another unnecessary role. Her role in the film is not much important.

The story of a gang star between 1958 and 1982 was shown in the movie ‘Matka’. Ratan Khatri is a powerful name that everyone remembers as Matka. After coming to Mumbai from Pakistan, he rose to fame as the King of Matka and offered to pay off the debts of the government. At that time, Khatri offered that if ‘Matka’ was legalized to the central government, he would settle India’s debts. Director Karuna Kumar made it in the backdrop of Visakhapatnam.

Nothing feels gripping or interesting in the graph of the hero growing into a gangster. But this film couldn’t even create that in the film. The lack any depth or intensity in the transformation made it a flop. ‘Matka’ is not only a vintage action drama but also has vintage ideas that are no longer entertaining the audience. The film goes on more likely to be a 80s film with a lot of drama and stereotypes. The story goes into the second half with a question mark to build the anticipation.

But nothing much changes in the story. In the second half, it will be interesting to see how the CBI manages the matka gambling and how it takes out those involved. After that the movie takes a commercial turn. Here too, the kidnapping episode in the pre-climax and the expected climax after that are boring and irritating. The two pre-climax songs ‘Le Le Raja’ and ‘Tassadia’ are a bit better than the other factors to watch. The climactic fight ‘Matka’ looks okay… the film lacks thrilling elements, high moments and twists to say the least. Moreover, villainism does not show any effect. The background music is not impressive.