The Buckingham Murders movie review: No-nonsense Kareena Kapoor Khan revels in her Kate Winslet era, but Hansal Mehta’s film succumbs to obviousness

The small town murder mystery has been seeing something of a revival lately, and Kareena Kapoor Khan is clearly reveling in her Kate Winslet era. But ‘Mare of Easttown’, ‘The Buckingham Murders’ is not. There’s a lot that the disparate strands– the problems that immigrants face in assimilating into the social fabric of a foreign land, the anti-LGBTQ atmosphere in conservative pockets, the resentment of the locals, the rampant drug use, the economic distress currently at an all-time high in the UK– are trying to knit together. As a result, the murder mystery, which is meant to be at the core of the film, stays nestled uneasily within.

There’s also a degree of obviousness in which the clash between the Sikhs and the Muslims is framed, with loud mentions of ‘gurdwaras’, and ‘mosques’. The same goes for the interactions between Jas and the police station’s boss, which see-saw between sympathy for her loss, and insistence of getting the job done.

And the incessant background music, one of my top bugbears, rears its head here again: here, it is even more intrusive, especially because this film is not your standard Bollywood fare, breaking the scant suspense that is generated in the proceedings.

The Buckingham Murders movie trailer:

Both Ranveer Brar as the father, and Prabhleen Sandhu as the mother of the dead boy do their job, Brar manages the rough dourness that his character requires, and Sandhu lifts off the screen whenever she comes on. Ash Tandon, as the conflicted cop on the ground, is effective. It may have been a choice not to show any of the White residents– the script uses them for stock official figures– but you do wonder if the ghettoisation is so strong that one stays away from another.

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It is Kareena Kapoor Khan who raises the bar here. The fact of her presence may make everyone else in the film a clear supporting character, something that Bollywood filmmakers have to figure their way around: how do you get an A-lister, and not position her as the fulcrum, reducing everyone else to react to her doings? But Khan submits to the demands of her role, her make-up-less face, severely pulled back hair, no-nonsense attire in place, pushing past her pain towards clear purpose, and possible redemption.

The Buckingham Murders movie cast: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ash Tandon, Ranveer Brar, Prabhleen Sandhu
The Buckingham Murders movie director: Hansal Mehta
The Buckingham Murders movie rating: 2.5 stars