The Buckingham Murders review: Kareena Kapoor Khan’s hard hitting performance shines in Hansal Mehta’s edgy thriller

Gone are the days when certain jobs were only meant to be done by men only. These are the days when women have already not just started walking shoulder to shoulder with the men, but also excel in till-now-male dominated-fields. Working as a detective was one such profession which was predominantly dominated by men… but anymore!

This week’s release The Buckingham Murders revolves around the life of a lady detective Jess Bhamra (Kareena Kapoor Khan). Even though she is a razor-sharp as a detective, the fact also remains that she is dealing with the loss of her darling son in a gun shootout by a zealot. Jess is very well aware of the fact that, even though she got justice in the said case (with the culprit being caught), all of it is not going to get back her son.

The film starts off with Jess applying for a transfer to High Wycombe, even if it means that she gets demoted from her current position. She does all of this only to run away from the haunting memories of her young son and his untimely passing away. When she reports to work, after all the joining formalities, she is handed over with her first case- to find Ishpreeth Kohli, a school going lad who had gone missing.

Understanding that it is about a missing young boy, Jess refuses to undertake her first case before her boss. But then, boss being the boss he is, tells her that, even though he is well aware of the personal situation that she is dealing with…he says, ‘Duty doesn’t care for much. Public service has to be paramount’.

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Armed with these words as her weapon to regain her lost confidence, Jess sets out on a mission to find the young lad Ishpreet. Thereafter starts Jess’ fanatic search operations while she has to handle the male ego of her immediate reporting head DI Hardy, who takes extreme offence every time he feels that, Jess may just be able to solve the case all by herself. After all the hard work, Kareena’s incessant search yields results as they land up finding Ishpreet’s dead body.

Just as when Jess and team become successful in tracing the missing boy, on the other hand, work begins in full swing to find out the merciless murderer of Ishpreet and the motive behind it. Jess and her team start working day in and day out to track the culprit. With each person they meet, the needle of suspicion starts hanging over their head.

In the course of her on-point investigations, Jess comes across many aspects (read ‘angles’) including LGBTQ, jealousy, drug supply, communal hatred, greed for money and other traits. Will Jess be able to crack the super complicated case of Ishpreet’s murder, does the culprit turn out to be one amongst the suspects or is it someone whom Jess and team might not have even thought of in the wildest of their dreams is what forms the rest of the whodunnit thriller.

First things first. This kind of film may not be appealing to the masses and classes alike. A film like this has its separate set of audience. At the same time, director Hansal Mehta needs to be applauded for having made such a film with utmost confidence, where the film does not resort to anything that’s large than life. Even the shooting locations are seemingly limited. The film’s narrative, despite being a whodunnit thriller, starts entering the dark side at a few places, which may put off the audience.

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Full marks to Hansal Mehta for the way in which the LGBTQ aspect has been made ‘inclusive’ (no pun intended here) in the film’s narrative. He earns the brownie points for not making a mockery of the community. Over and above that, he has done a good job in directing Kareena Kapoor Khan in the role of a detective.

The flip side of the film is that, since most of the dialogues are in English (the accented English, since the film has been shot abroad), it may prove to be a road block to the audiences who might have come to see the diva Kareena Kapoor in action. One really wonders as to what on earth made Hansal to create a character (DI Hardy), who looks Indian but, insists only on speaking English, even though the opposite person speaks and understands Hindi!

On the technical aspect, it’s the film’s cinematography which really takes the cake. The camera angles and the perfection with which certain scenes have been shot really deserves a pat on the back for the Director of Photography. The film’s editing, however, could have been a bit tighter and crisper. Even though the couple of songs do not play a spoilsport in the film, playing that in the background could have trimmed the film by a good few minutes.

As for the performances, no prizes for guessing that it is Kareena Kapoor Khan’s show all the way. Despite sporting a near-no-make-up look in the film (mostly), this lady has yet again proved that she can single handedly drive the film! Even though the film has no leading man opposite Kareena Kapoor, this lady nails her role as a helpless mother as well as a detective.

Onto a close second is chef-cum-actor Ranveer Brar, who shows that, he can not just cook great food in real life, but also come up with great performances in reel life. Rest of the cast, however, do what is expected of them. A special mention to the two guys who ‘dared’ to get engaged in a liplock (and even beyond) … all to get into the skin of the character of their respective roles!

All in all, The Buckingham Murders qualifies for a one-time watch… only if you are a fan of whodunnits or Kareena Kapoor Khan, for that matter. On the hindsight, if you have the patience to wait for it to come on OTT, then, stay tuned into Netflix (who happens to be the film’s OTT partner), to see the film after it is done with its theatrical run!

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