Throughout the era, we see that her son Sanjay Gandhi taking power from her hands and quickly forcing a vasectomy programme and bulldozing of slum houses, killing one.

Her furious son starts to despise her "political suicide," while once-imprisoned leaders of the Janata (People) Party take their official oath.

[22] Before its release, Emergency faced delays due to concerns raised by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

The CBFC granted a U/A certificate on the condition that the filmmakers implement specific cuts and provide factual sources for controversial historical claims depicted in the movie.

[12][38] Dhaval Roy of Times of India gave the film 2.5 stars (out of 5) and wrote, "Emergency is hindered by its overly dramatised approach and one-dimensional portrayals.

"[40] Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express deemed it as a "confused" biopic that is weak in craft, giving the film 1.5 stars (out of 5) and writing, "For the most part, Emergency is more a scattershot caricature of time, place, and people, riddled with tacky computer graphics.

"[42] Angel Rani of Deccan Herald gave the film 2 stars (out of 5) and dismissed Ranaut's portrayal of Indira Gandhi as "meek mimicry".

"[44] Mayank Shekhar of Mid-Day gave the film 3 stars, calling it a "pretty solid biopic of Indira Gandhi—packed with historical events, and human empathy".

Not just Kangana, Mahima Chaudhury, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade and Vishak Nair did justice to their roles in Emergency.

"[47] Sana Farzeen of India Today rated it 2.5 out of 5 and called it a rushed crash course on Indira Gandhi's life that struggles to delve deeply into key historical events and character motivations.

[48] Utkarsh Mishra of Rediff gave the film a rating of 1 out of 5 and panned Ranaut's portrayal, noting that her character is almost always teary-eyed and lacking in confidence with voice modulation that falls flat.

[49] Anuj Kumar of The Hindu wrote, "Marked by uneven storytelling, the biopic comes across more as a selective recreation of archival material to serve today's political narrative than a compelling take on the darkest chapter of Indian democracy.

[52] Internationally, the film faced protests in the United Kingdom, where Sikh groups organized demonstrations against Emergency, disrupting its screening at some cinemas during its opening weekend.

The Sikh Press Association stated that the film was seen as anti-Sikh, leading to canceled screenings in cities such as Birmingham and Wolverhampton.