Adarsh from the entertainment portal Bollywood Hungama gave the film one star, calling its second-half "weak". However, he took note of the "superb" dialogue of the film, mostly that are said by Paresh Rawal's character, while deemed Johnny Lever's comedic scenes were "flat". Moreover, Adarsh said that Mukerji was given with a role that did not give her screen time to talk and Pooja Batra's role was better than hers. Saibal Chatterjee of the Hindustan Times, giving the same rating, described the film as "a patchwork that's neither pretty nor useful". Ziya Us Salam claimed that Kapoor portrayed his part with "easy professionalism". The critic and trade analyst Komal Nahta opined that it did not "have enough entertainment value", suggesting that the film's lengthy duration could be cut for ten minutes. Kapoor's performance got appreciation from Nahta, who thought he was "splendid", otherwise Nahta hoped that Shankar's direction "could have been much better. His inept handling becomes conspicuous as unrealistic and unbelievable things happen in this serious issue-based drama." Writing for NDTV, Parul Batra saw that Mukerji was wasted in her brief role although applauding her costumes. He agreed with Nahta about the duration problem, saying that it left him "disappointed". Dinesh Raheja felt that the "spirited" performance of Kapoor was the highlight of the film, and Devesh Sharma, in a review carried by Screen, observed of him, "Anil Kapoor once again proves his brilliance as an actor with this movie [...] he verily gets under the skin of his character and executes a faultless performance. His frustrations, his angst and his heart-rendering lamentations on seeing his parents blown away find answering echoes in the heart of every cinegoer." Accolades Sequel In September 2013, the media reported that Kapoor has signed to star in a sequel to Nayak, titled Nayak Returns, and Tabu will be his co-star. The project will have a different subject, but he has said that he will reprise his role. The sequel was officially announced later by Eros International in January 2017, with V. Vijayendra Prasad chosen to write the screenplay and the principal photography starting the same year. References External links 2000s Hindi-language films 2000s political thriller films 2001 action drama films 2001 films Fictional portrayals of the Maharashtra Police Films about corruption in India Films about elections Films directed by S. Shankar Films scored by A. R. Rahman Hindi remakes of Tamil films Indian