21 April,2026 07:50 AM IST | Mumbai | Mohar Basu
Kritika Kamra in ‘Matka King’
While most actors would avoid such a role in fear of judgment, Kritika Kamra says she is unfazed by how her character in the Vijay Varma-starrer Matka King will be perceived. Set in the smoky underbelly of 1960s Bombay, she plays a woman who enters a morally complex relationship with a married man, fully aware of what it entails. It's the kind of role cinema has historically flattened into labels - the other woman - the one you're meant to dislike.
"I know that the character is going to be judged. And I'm welcoming that judgment," she says plainly. "I'm not interested in making a character likeable. That's not my goal." For Kamra, the job isn't to soften a character but to understand her without apology. "Infidelity and jealousy are very human. Relationships are messy. They are not black and white. If we start making moral statements through stories, then we're simplifying something that isn't simple."
In Matka King, that messiness shapes her character's arc. A young, privileged South Bombay Parsi woman begins in the cocooned world of society clubs, brunches, and racecourses, only to be drawn into a radically different world of risk and power. Her attraction to Varma's character begins without full knowledge, but continues even after the truth emerges. "There is a certain judgment that comes with it, of course, but the story shouldn't judge. The audience can. It's interesting to see how people [react] to her, whether they think she's right or wrong." Energised by that tension, she adds, "It's hard to encapsulate people in adjectives. And I like characters like this. I want to do more of this."
Off screen, however, Kamra finds herself increasingly frustrated. Having moved from television to OTT in search of nuanced storytelling, she now feels that space is shrinking. "It bothers me because it limits my choices. The kind of stories that are coming my way right now have an uncanny similarity with television." While she acknowledges television's reach, she believes OTT once promised greater risk-taking. "If you want to speak to a larger audience, you do something that is socially acceptable and not take risks at all. We are constantly catering to the status quo, never challenging anything. We are now data and numbers-driven. So the scope of any experimentation is getting smaller," she explains.
On the set of Matka King, directed by Nagraj Popatrao Manjule, she found the creative environment she had been seeking - one that values preparation but embraces fluidity. "You want to bring your A-game because of the respect he commands. He's not attached to lines. He'll change and mould things. You have to be willing to let go of what you've prepared. I don't want to go and just parrot my lines. I want to think. I want to be challenged. I want to be part of something where everyone is working towards the story, not just themselves. I just hope people watch it, feel something, or think about it," she says. "If it stays with you, that's the biggest win."
And if it doesn't? She shrugs, almost, and says, "Then we'll try again."
The show is reportedly loosely based on the life of Ratan Khatri, the original "Matka King" who transformed a simple household pot into a nationwide gambling empire in the 1960s and 70s
