Matka is an upcoming period crime drama written and directed by Karuna Kumar who previously made Palasa 1978 (2020) and Sridevi Soda Center (2021). The makers have released a first look poster of Varun Tej with the line "The game begins soon on the big screen." The poster depicts his character in two shades, an older self and a younger version on the table reflection.

In Matka, Varun Tej will be seen as Mumbai-based Matka King Ratan Katri while the film is based in Visakhapatnam. The film’s story is said to span 24 years, from 1958 to 1982. Matka is known to be a popular form of illegal gambling in 80s India. It is believed that Khatri, who belonged to a Sindhi family and came to Mumbai from Karachi after Partition, popularised Matka gambling from Mumbai to different parts of the country. Meenakshi Chaudhary and Nora Fatehi are the female leads in this high-budget entertainer.

Dr Vijender Reddy Teegala and Rajani Talluri are producing this film under Vyra Entertainments and SRT Entertainments respectively. Matka’s cast also includes Naveen Chandra, Ajay Ghosh, Kannada Kishore, Ravindra Vijay, P Ravi Shankar, and others in pivotal roles. GV Prakash Kumar is composing music for the film, with cinematography by A Kishor Kumar, editing by Karthika Srinivas R and production design by Kishore Kumar Manne.

The Varun Tej-starrer is yet to announce a release date. Meanwhile, Netflix is also making a Matka King biopic directed by Sairat-fame Nagraj Manjule starring Vijay Varma, Kritika Kamra, Gulshan Grover, Sai Tamhankar, Siddharth Jadhav and more.