Matka Review: Varun Tej shines in this otherwise silly and lackluster crime drama
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Matka Story
Matka is the story of Vasu (Varun Tej), a refugee from Burma who lands in Vizag. He is jailed for a murder and this turns his life upside down. Very soon, he takes the wrong route and establishes a crime empire in Vizag. On a business deal to Mumbai, Vasu chances upon the game of Matka and introduces it in Vizag. Very soon, everyone gets addicted to the game making Vasu the undisputed king of Matka in the country. His growth attracts the attention of even Indira Gandi, who assigns a CBI cop (Naveen Chandra) to nab Vasu. The rest of the story is about how Vasu handles the cops and comes out clean.
Matka Review:
Matka has been written and directed by Karuna Kumar, who made heads turn with Palasa. He chooses the story of Matka King Ratan Khetri and adds a lot of style with stylized characters. But that is the only solace of the film as it looks rich but does not have anything novel going its way.
Films made on criminals going from rich to rags are plenty and Matka offers nothing new to the audience. It is made only to showcase what Varun Tej has in him as an actor. The period drama takes too much time to enter the main plot. It is only during the interval point that the actual game of Matka starts.
The director does not showcase how this syndicate operates and only narrates it through a few scenes. Such gangster-based films need a lot of thrills, dialogue delivery, and mass action. But all that goes for a toss in Matka. There is no seriousness in the film and Varun Tej is the only one who makes sense. The pace of the film is slow and Matka moves at a speed that makes you sleepy in the theater.
The second half has some moments of glory but they too are killed by the poor placements of the songs. When things get serious with the cat-and-mouse game of cops and the hero, two special songs come out of nowhere and spoil the film big time. One gets frustrated to see how badly the film is narrated by the director.
There is a single take lengthy scene where Varun Tej narrates to his daughter why he is in the business. Such scenes make for a good watch but there are so many other silly scenes that do not sit properly in the narrative. Coming to the performances, Varun Tej gives a solid performance. His character gives him a lot of scope to showcase his talent as he is shown in different age groups. Whenever he is on screen, things make sense but the rest of the cast or narration fails to stand up to his screen presence.
Meenakshi Chaudhary has only two scenes and has no say in the film. Though she does not like her husband's business, she does not do anything apart from saying a simple dialogue. Ajay Ghosh is passable in the film. Naveen Chandra, who plays the cop, is hardly there in the film as his character is made to look like a joker in the film. The rest of the cast is also not that great.
The production values of the film are top-notch. Director Karuna Kumar scores marks as he has set the film in the bygone era and the time zones have been showcased beautifully through an effective camera work. The editing is bad and even worse was GV Prakash's music. Not one song in the film makes sense and the BGM does not elevate the film one bit. It is surprising to see GV Prakash do such shoddy work. The costumes, production design, and dialogue are good. But all this is lost in translation.
Varun Tej is known to try films with content and gave a nod to Karuna Kumar that he will showcase him in a new avatar. Karuna Kumar showcases Varun Tej in a never-before-seen manner but spoils the film with his silly narration and makes Matka a boring and outdated film.
Matka Verdict
On the whole, Matka is an ambitious film that has the scale but falters in its execution. Varun Tej gives a memorable performance but sadly, he too couldn't help after a point as the narration is so jaded and lacks basic thrills.
