The Buckingham Murders Review: Kareena Leads Sharp Cast in Blunt-Edged Thriller
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
It’s become some sort of trend in murder mysteries to dwell into the personal baggage of the detective leading a case, instead of the good old razor-sharp focus on finding out who the killer is. And acclaimed Bollywood director Hansal Mehta has hopped onto that train with the 2024 thriller The Buckingham Murders starring Kareena Kapoor as grieving cop Jaspreet Bhamra, who transfers to new city and takes up the case of a missing child.
Now, this ‘detective with personal baggage’ trope works in some mysteries, like Rautu Ka Raaz or even Do Patti, but feels excessive and unnecessary in others, like Fool Me Once, Killer Heat, where my review title (Killer Heat: Sun, Suspense, and a PI With Baggage) literally took a dig at it. In Buckingham Murders, the emphasis on Jaspreet, aka Jass, and her trauma over losing a son to murder is handled with just the right balance. Unfortunately, it’s the murder-mystery that’s slow, predictable, and relies on some twists that tend to feel slightly outdated.
The case: School student Ishpreet Kohli (Sartaaj Kakkar) goes missing, and Saquib (Kapil Redekar), a teenager with a drug problem, becomes the primary suspect due to some damning evidence. However, Jaspreet Bhamra also has her eyes on other suspects—Naved (Rahul Sidhu), Saquib’s friend who suspiciously abandons him and was at the scene of the crime; Tejinder “Syringe” (Haider Javed), a drug peddler who had slapped and humiliated Ishpreet just days before his disappearance; and even Daljeet Kohli (Raveer Brar), Ishpreet’s father, who struggles with anger issues, financial troubles, and an unhappy marriage with his wife, Preeti (Prabhleen Sandhu). Plus, Ishpreet was adopted (the trailer reveals this, so it’s not a spoiler).
Jaspreet’s biggest challenge in solving the Ishpreet case is her new boss Hardik Patel (Ash Tandon), who undermines her from day one and seems to have some personal beef with the people involved in the case. Kareena Kapoor, whose last thriller title was Jaane Jaan, delivers a gritty, and poised performance as Jaspreet, a senior cop grappling with the murder of her own young son. She in-fact declines to work on the Ishpreet case the second it comes her way, but her senior Suptd. Miller (Keith Allen) asks her to buck up and be professional about it – “Duty comes first”. Keith Allen lends the right amount of ‘no nonsense’ attitude in his little cameo as Jaspreet’s clear-sighted and astute boss.
None of Kareena Kapoor’s usual bubbly screen presence is on display here, though a hint of Geet from Jab We Met seeps through in a scene where Jaspreet lets out a scream to release pent-up frustration. However, instead of carrying the serious, cathartic weight it needs, the moment feels more reminiscent of Geet’s loud, comical rant to her ex over the phone.
Despite sharp performances, engagingly understated cinematography, “The Buckingham Murders” doesn’t generate enough intrigue and mystery over its primary murder case. In-fact, even the ‘big’ twist about Saquib, the primary suspect, is quite predictable. There are only a handful of suspects, which makes it easy to guess who might’ve had a stronger motive to bump off the boy. So, in the end, neither the murderer, nor the motive comes as a surprise.
Hansal Mehta’s crime drama Scoop was so good that my expectations for this mystery were pretty high. Oh well, from a pure murder-mystery standpoint, The Buckingham Murders isn’t all that gripping. However, as a Bollywood drama set abroad, it’s a compelling one-time watch, focusing on a grieving mother/cop who’s determined to solve a child’s murder and make sure the real perpetrator is brought to justice.
Rating: 6 on 10. You can stream The Buckingham Murders on Netflix.
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