The Buckingham Murders Review: Kareena Kapoor Khan steals the show

THE BUCKINGHAM MURDERS

Producers- Shobha Kapoor, Ekta Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor Khan

Director- Hansal Mehta

Cast- Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Brar, Prabhleen Sandhu and Ash Tandon.

Platform of Release- Theatres

Rating:

By Jyothi Venkatesh

Chiselled by the powerhouse talent of Kareena Kapoor Khan and fine-tuned by writer-director Hansal Mehta’s empathetic gaze, the suspense thriller whodunit film genuinely makes an attempt to understand the social outcasts within the framework of the genre.

The film is about a grieving lady cop who loses her only male child to murder and decides to move to another town where she  is assigned the trak of investigating the strange disappearance of a missing kid and sets about her task, exploring themes of trauma and grief .

Set in the multicultural backdrop of England, the film stays true to the language and cultural accent of the location where the British Indian detective Jasmeet Bhamra (Kareena Kapoor Khan) is emotionally torn after her personal loss.

The film revolves around how the brave middle class woman puts the pieces together of a rather complex case without succumbing to the pressure of its social implications. Though the film reminds the viewer of the Kate Winslet starrer Mare of Easttown to give us an impeccable masterclass in female-led detective dramas that revolves around personal trauma and professional upheaval, its pathetic slow pace adds to your discomfiture a lot.

The slow burn crime drama does not even for a minute wean away from its track and make an attempt to lighten up the atmosphere or dial down the paranoia and sticks to its point, which is a real Hansal Mehta hallmark and makes the interrogation seem very stagnant and bleak and to tell the truth, the film, despite a middling narrative, unfolds as an interesting character study on unresolved grief and repressed anger.

As far as performances are concerned, it is Kareena Kaopoor who steals the show with her deadpan expression almost throughout the film. Kareena is not only very subtle and nuanced but also extremely understated and you are instantly reminded of her performances in films like Udta Punjab, Jaane Jaan and Talaash. Ranveer Brar and Ash Tandon also give adequate support to Kareena.

Thoroughly deglamorized to the core, Kareena weaponises her silence a lot amid the chaos as she seeks closure in solving the case, which is assigned to her. To her entire credit, I should say that she hasn’t done anything like this before and this is certainly a welcome change. Though I should say that the build-up is more chilling and captivating, its understanding and expression of grief, isolation and repressed anger is noteworthy and it just is not an edge-of-your-seat, hard-hitting crime thriller as you expect it to be.