The film opened up to generally positive reactions from critics. Mayank Shekhar of Hindustan Times said “None of the actors assembled on stage let him [the director] down: right from an unusually inspired Rampal to his powerful, polar opposite Bajpayee” and rated it 3/5. Nikhat Kazmi of Times of India said “The film basically anchors its plot in two classic tales — The Mahabharata and The Godfather — to create an engrossing diatribe on India’s political system where democracy may prevail, but not in its purest form” and rated it 4/5.
According to IndiaTimes “Raajneeti is One of the most powerful and pertinent political parables in India undoubtedly happens to be Mahabharat where brothers fought against each other to gain ultimate power. Prakash Jha employs the same politics of power in his contemporary adaptation of Mahabharat, deriving its primary plot and central characters from the epic.”
