and commented, "Whether he’s dancing like a hysterical man under the influence of drugs or he’s the broken, emotional wreck just staring blank, Ranbir portrays a variety of emotions and grey shades with flair." Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV praised Kapoor's performance and Hirani's direction, but felt that "other actors scramble to keep up", especially Rawal. He concludes the review by writing, "an absolute must-watch". A reviewer for India Today writes, "Director Rajkumar Hirani, who has also co-written and edited Sanju, has taken more than a few dramatic liberties, but it feels refreshingly candid." He appreciates Kaushal as "[holding] his own against Ranbir's superlative performance." Devesh Sharma of Filmfare appreciated the film's humour and applauded the writing as "the strength of the film". He noted, "Sanju tells you superstars are humans too". Gaurang Chauhan of Times Now rated the film three and a half stars out of five. While criticising the background score and the first half, he praised the performances and second half of the film. Ankita Chakravarti of Zee News praised the performances of the ensemble cast stating that "each and every cast is worth every attention" as "all the actors have done complete justice to their characters." Rajeev Masand, writing for News18, gave the film three and a half stars out of five, believing that the "shrewd writing, and Ranbir Kapoor’s extraordinary performance makes it hard not to empathize with the protagonist." Rohit Bhatnagar of Deccan Chronicle labelled Sanju as "enjoyable", while noting that it tries to clear Dutt's image. Uday Bhatia of Mint was critical of Dutt's portrayal, while mostly appreciating Kapoor's performance. Rohit Vats of Hindustan Times appreciated Kapoor's performance, but criticized the predictable nature of the script and songs which "break the narrative". Shubhra Gupta of Indian Express rated the film two and a half stars out of five, stating that "Hirani is in top form getting all his reel characters to off the real characters, in the pursuit of a solid, entertaining tale" but criticized the second half as to whether what had been left out of the film would have made it better. Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost described Kapoor's performance as "superb", but was unhappy with how "startlingly dishonest" the film was. Nandini Ramanath of Scroll.in was impassive about the film, writing, "In its relentless quest to offer absolution, Sanju is no better or worse than many other biopics that have