Rajneeti:
This is going to be the kind of review i would not want to read.
If you are among the 3 who visit - know that i will be giving away a fair bit of the story in this blog. The only concession i will make is that i will refer to characters in the movie by their names in the Mahabharat.

I liked:
1. The 1st half. All of it!

2. The take on the 'Mahabharata' and the detailing...
Karna's father is a driver, Krishna's character in the movie is called Brij Gopal,
Krishna drives Arjun to kill Karna, Karna is killed when his car is driven off the road and when he is unarmed.

2. That ALL the characters are grey. There is not a single person in the movie who has not seriously wronged another. For once it has been left entirely up to an audience's sensibility to decide whose side they are on.
No redemption for anyone - not the protagonist (Arjun), not Karan, Not even Krishna.

3. That it tried something quite new in story-telling. Stay with me on this one while i try to explain.
The protagonist is SHOWN doing wrong.
Arjun betrays Duryodhan and goes back on his word. Arjun plays on Draupadi's love. Arjun kills Babu Lal, Duryodhan and then Karna. All this is shown.

The negativity on the part of other ordinarily grey characters though (Duryodhan) is ONLY IMPLIED.
Duryodhan, for example does nothing dramatically wrong in this plot apart from being hot headed and arrogant... And it is only by implication that you know Karan is responsible for Arjun's father's death.
I thought this was fascinating and definitely a first. Not only do you let me pick sides, you also demonstrate the 'greyness' of the protagonist more often than the other side.
And yet i leave the movie thinking - it ended as it should have! Quite Brilliant!

4. The performances. Nana Patekar as Krishna is brilliant. As is Manoj Bajpayee playing Duryodhan! Arjun and Draupadi are also very good.

What didn't work for me:
1. 2nd half. some of it.

2. 'Politics brought out the worst in me' is a stale line and an unimaginative explanation for the mayhem shown.

3. Trying other movie plots just as an experiment.
Sarkar type killing spree. Politicians killing each other in broad daylight - without goons or anything.
And then when the story is sufficiently confused and you don't know how on earth to end this drama... "return of The Mahabharata"

4. Some very avoidable angles from the epic. Since they weren't going by the book anyway - they could have avoided the Kunti-Karna confrontation scene. It was beyond ridiculous! Not to mention an unpleasant flashback to the DD version with dialogues like "tum mere jesht putra ho".

5. The flimsy apology given by Arjun and the easy forgiveness!

All in all though 3.5 from me.