Ratan khatri biography
Ratan Khatri, widely known as the Matka King, has once again captured the public’s imagination. In light of that, let us quickly look at who he is and what makes him so popular.
Khatri’s story is one of remarkable transformation and resilience. Born into a Sindhi family in Karachi, Pakistan, he migrated to India as a teenager during the partition of 1947. In India, Khatri carved out a niche for himself in the world of gambling, earning the title of Matka King for revolutionizing the matka gambling system in Mumbai in 1962.
Advertisement
Matka, which started as a form of betting on the opening and closing rates of cotton from the New York Cotton Exchange, evolved under Khatri’s influence into a large-scale, nationwide gambling network.
Initially, Khatri worked under Kalyanji Bhagat, another significant figure in the world of matka gambling, known for the Worli Matka. Khatri eventually branched out on his own, establishing Ratan Matka. His network reportedly included celebrities and high-profile dignitaries from around the globe, cementing his status as a legendary figure in the gambling world.
Khatri’s life wasn’t without its challenges. During the Emergency period in India, he was imprisoned and spent 19 months behind bars. Despite these setbacks, he remained a dominant figure in the gambling scene until his retirement in the early 1990s. He passed away in 2020, leaving behind a legacy that continues to intrigue and captivate people.
The mechanics of matka gambling also underwent significant changes over the years. Initially, it involved betting on cotton prices, but by the 1960s, this was replaced with various methods to generate random numbers, including drawing slips from a matka (earthen pot). Khatri was particularly known for his use of playing cards to draw numbers, a practice that became a hallmark of his gambling operations.
Khatri’s influence on the gambling industry in India was profound, and his life story remains a testament to his HomeBollywood BOLLYWOOD Chandu Champion introduces the character of Ratan Khatri, a gambling kingpin who is now getting his own biopic called Matka King Ratan Khatri in the 2000s The recently-released Kartik Aaryan-starrer film Chandu Champion is a biopic of war hero-turned-Paralympic champion Murlikant Petkar. The film chronicles the life of Petkar from the early 60s to the present day and includes several real incidents and historical figures. One that caught the attention of many is a figure popular in the Mumbai gambling circles for decades – Ratan Khatri. What is Ratan Khatri’s role in Chandu Champion? Mild spoilers for Chandu Champion ahead! In the film, after Murlikant Petkar is paralysed following his injuries in the 1965 Indo-Pak War, he is taken to a military hospital in Bombay. There, he finds a caretaker in Topaz (Rajpal Yadav), a hospital attendant with a gambling habit. Eventually, Petkar lends Topaz money to gamble on his behalf. The sequence that follows shows one Ratan Khatri as the chief guest, where he is introduced as the matka king of Bombay. Who was the real Ratan Khatri? Not much is known about the early life of Ratan Khatri except that he hailed from Sindh and came to India during the Partition. Having settled in Bombay, he introduced organised gambling in the form of matka to the city in the 1960s. By the 70s, he was the gambling kingpin of the city, raking in lakhs of rupees each day. This earned him the moniker of Matka King of Bombay. In 1975, when Emergency was declared, Khatri even spent time in prison. Khatri retired from the matka business in the 90s and continued to live a quiet life in Mumbai. He passed away in 2020 when he was in his 80s. Ratan Khatri’s upco Form of gambling Matka gambling or satta is a form of betting and lottery which originally involved betting on the opening and closing rates of cotton transmitted from the New York Cotton Exchange to the Bombay Cotton Exchange. It originates from before the Partition of India when it was known as Ankada Jugar ("figures gambling"). In the 1960s, the system was replaced with other ways of generating random numbers, including pulling slips from a large earthenware pot known as a matka, or dealing with playing cards. Matka gambling is illegal in India. In the original form of the game, betting would take place on the opening and closing rates of cotton as transmitted to the Bombay Cotton Exchange from the New York Cotton Exchange, via teleprinters. In 1961, the New York Cotton Exchange stopped the practice, which caused the punters to look for alternative ways to keep the matka business alive. A Sindhi migrant from Karachi, Pakistan, Ratan Khatri introduced the idea of declaring opening and closing rates of imaginary products and playing cards. Numbers would be written on pieces of paper and put into a matka, a large earthen pitcher. One person would then draw a chit and declare the winning numbers. Over the years, the practice changed, so that three numbers were drawn from a pack of playing cards, but the name "matka" was kept. In 1962, Kalyanji Bhagat started the Worli matka. Ratan Khatri then introduced the New Worli matka in 1964, with slight modifications to the rules of the game with odds that were more favourable to the public. Kalyanji Bhagat's matka ran every day of the week, whereas Ratan Khatri's matka ran only five days a week, from Monday to Friday and later as it gained immense popularity and became synonymous with his name, it began to be called Main Ratan matka. During the flourishing of textil ( Originally published on May 10, 2020 )Who is Ratan Khatri from Chandu Champion? Matka King who earned lakhs per day in 70s, now getting own biopic starring...
TRENDING NOW
Matka gambling
History
'Matka King' Ratan Khatri passes away
Hailing from a Sindhi family, Khatri came to Mumbai from Karachi in Pakistan when he was a teenager during the partition in 1947.
Famous for his 'Matka King' sobriquet, Khatri is credited with transforming matka (a form of gamblingthat originated in Mumbai in 1962) into India's biggest betting racket and established a nation-wide gambling network that lasted for decades under his control.
Matka involved betting on the opening and closing rates of cotton transmitted from the New York Cotton Exchange. Matka was popular in all sections of Mumbai society in 1960s.
Khatri, who earlier worked with Kalyanji Bhagatwhen the latter started the Worli Matka, parted ways to form his own 'Ratan Matka'. The matka which involved drawing lots from chits in a pot was a money-spinner with the daily turnover from gambling touching Rs one crore.
A tongue-in-cheek tribute to the ex-gambler came from a Twitter user who said the "hourly new announcements of government on lockdown norms reminded him of Ratan Khatri's Kalyan/Mumbai matka (open/close) of 70s!"