It has a decidedly realistic feel and taut pacing."[48] Suparn Verma of Rediff.com wrote, "Satya is a culmination of Ram Gopal Varma's work to date. His characters have the intensity and anger of Shiva, and the Urmila-Chakravathy relationship is better tuned version of what he did in Drohi".[45] Another reviewer called to the film a "no punches pulled movie mirroring, authentically, the visage of a sick society."[5]