Filmmaker Nagraj Manjule, the director behind hits such as ‘Fandry’, Sairat’ and ‘Jhund’, says his foray on OTT with Vijay Varma-starrer ‘Matka King’ wasn’t a calculated move but a creative shift after hit fantasy drama ‘Game of Thrones’ showed him the unique potential of long-form storytelling.

“There was no such thing as to whether I should do it or not do it (make an OTT show). When this idea came, I was like, ‘Let’s do it’. When I met Sid (Siddharth Roy Kapur, producer) sir, he said he was also thinking of this subject.

“We were already working on it with Ashwini ji (Sidhwani, producer), Ashish ji (Aryan, writer) and me. So, we worked on it together, Amazon liked it very much, and the work started,” Manjule told PTI in an interview.

The ‘Sairat’ director said ‘Game of Thrones’, the hit HBO drama based on GRR Martin’s books, was the first OTT show he watched during the lockdown and it changed how he viewed storytelling.

“Many people told me to watch this show. When I saw it, I enjoyed it a lot. I realised it (OTT) has a different strength. When you watch it, you keep (binge) watching a long story. So, I had liked the show, ‘Game of Thrones’,” the filmmaker, who predominantly makes Marathi-language films, said.

‘Matka King’ follows the story of Brij Bhatti, a sharp-minded and enterprising cotton trader, who navigates the fast-changing landscape of 1960s Bombay in pursuit of legitimacy and respect, the PTI report from Mumbai stated yesterday.

The eight-episode series is set against a world of bustling markets, crowded chawls, and shifting power dynamics. What begins as an ambitious idea soon takes on a life of its own, drawing in people across social strata.

Manjule, known for narrating stories of caste oppression in films like ‘Sairat’ and ‘Jhund’ and short movie ‘Pistulya’, said ‘Matka King’ is different from his previous work. He said filmmaking is all about following instincts rather than following trends and added that he wants to continue to expand his horizon.