The Buckingham Murders review: Kareena Kapoor gives a riveting performance in a film that touches upon many sensitive issues

The Buckingham Murders is a thriller but it’s also so much more and this review delves into how this was an engaging slow burner.

The Buckingham Murders review: As an Indian, living in the comfort of my home country I often come across news about communal disharmony abroad amongst South East Asian immigrants. One cannot help but feel sad that the ones who left their home in the hope of a better life now have to face hate crimes in the name of religion. Stemming from this comes Hansal Mehta’s Buckingham Murders which keeps surprising you in terms of its storyline the more it unfolds.

The main protagonist here is Jaspreet Bhamra, a British Indian detective who is assigned the case of a missing teenager, Ishpreet. Being a part of this case is a conflicting decision for her because of something similar happening to her child as well. But duty calls first and her own trauma and dark past have to take a back seat in order for her to bring justice to the child’s family. She finds him within 12 hours of him going missing; unfortunately, it's too late. He was brutally murdered and the prime suspect here is a muslim teenager. This causes a lot of distress amongst the Sikh and Muslim community there but is the accused really the one who murdered him or is there more to what’s been sold to us as a story is where the crux of it all lies. 

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In Kareena Kapoor we trust; there’s rarely given a bad performance and this one’s yet another role that she’ll be remembered for. Her eyes do all the talking; they’re grieving, they’re curious, they’re angry, they’re empathetic and you feel her emote all of them so beautifully. Chef Ranveer Brar and Prabhleen play Ishpreet’s parents but the more you get to know them, the more you realize how problematic they are and the two actors manage to portray that tension between them pretty well. Ash Tandon plays DI Hardy who works on this case along with DS Bhamra but he has skeletons in his closet as well. The movie starts off as a thriller but blends into themes of religious disputes, drug abuse, patriarchy and struggles of the LGBTQIA+ community which totally takes you by surprise. 

There’s a dialogue in the film that says, “No parent should outlive their child” and that is going to stay with me for a while. The film is for grieving parents who have lost their children to hate crimes or drug addiction. But in my opinion, it’s for everyone who is grieving a loved one in some form. Bhamra is more of a silent griever in the film who keeps getting flashbacks of the day her son was killed by a psychopath. The depth with which she deals with her anxiety and trauma in the film almost makes you wonder if this was the same person who played the bubbly Geet in Jab We Met. She goes full Mare of Easttown with this one and we're here for it! Ishpreet’s parents grieve through their anger, DI Hardy grieves his sister through revenge and that's how grief of various kinds exists throughout the film. 

The movie is for sure a slow burner simply because it takes you through various topics and finally tells you who the killer is. It finally gives you the moment that you’ve been waiting for and it's worth it when it arrives. I like that via the silences and without any screaming and shouting in your face, it leaves an impact on you a plethora of times. Part spooky, part intense and part sorrowful,The Buckingham Murders is a good thriller led by a female detective to watch this rainy season.

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