Kareena’s
sombre
performance
lingered
on
long
after
I
had
left
the
theatre,
notes
Sukanya
Verma.
Melancholy
has
a
muse
in
Kareena
Kapoor
Khan.
Stripped
off
all
her
effervescence,
one
of
the
most
vibrant
forces
of
the
silver
screen
transforms
into
a
sublime
portrait
of
sadness.
Dev,
Omkara,
Heroine,
Talaash,
Udta
Punjab,
Laal
Singh
Chaddha,
Jaane
Jaan…
there
are
various
glimpses
of
her
inhabiting
pain
in
its
most
pensive
form.
It’s
time
to
add
Hansal
Mehta’s
The
Buckingham
Murders
to
that
list,
where
the
actress
unlocks
new
levels
of
emotional
maturity
as
a
grieving
mother.
When
I
watched
the
England-based
police
procedural
as
part
of
the
Mumbai
Film
Festival’s
opening
film
last
year,
Kareena’s
sombre
performance
lingered
on
long
after
I
had
left
the
theatre.
Her
muted
struggle
as
a
woman
haunted
by
the
devastating
loss
of
her
young
child
and
stoic
leadership
as
a
detective
investigating
the
case
of
a
missing
kid
reiterate
her
command
of
the
art.
In
The
Buckingham
Murders,
where
she’s
a
co-producer,
Kareena
plays
Jasmeet
Bhamra,
a
British
Indian
cop
voluntarily
transferred
to
a
sleepy
looking
Buckinghamshire
town
where
her
hopes
of
starting
afresh
contradicts
her
aversion
to
move
on
as
she
holds
on
to
her
deceased
son’s
blood
stained
towel.
Jasmeet’s
suffering
is
apparent
in
little
things
and
large.
Where
an
E
pendant
around
her
neck
is
a
bleak
reminder
of
the
burden
of
‘outliving’
one’s
child,
the
noise
cancelling
AirPods
she
has
on
at
all
times
act
appears
to
shield
her
from
the
sounds
of
normal
life.
A
storm
resides
within
her
and
its
rage
is
felt
loud
and
clear
when
rubbed
the
wrong
way
or
letting
her
guard
slip
in
front
of
her
composed
father.
But
there’s
also
purpose,
which
gets
her
going
when
Mehta’s
temperate
thriller
takes
off.
Still
reeling
from
the
aftermath
of
coronavirus
and
communal
tension
on
the
rise
since
2022’s
Leicester
unrest,
a
neighbourhood’s
undercurrents
of
friction
are
but
one
episode
away
from
spiralling
out
of
control,
when
a
Muslim
teenager
is
suspected
to
have
a
hand
in
the
disappearance
of
a
Sikh
kid.
Its
desi
British
mix
of
milieu
and
immigrant
framework
lends
The
Buckingham
Murders
a
distinct
texture
against
a
largely
Hindi-English
interaction,
free
from
the
strains
of
forced
accents.
But
that
homegrown
feel
eludes
it
still.
There’s
plenty
of
gloom
yet
not
enough
intrigue
in
Mehta’s
subdued
treatment
of
the
mystery,
which
hunts
for
clues
around
the
young
victim’s
family
and
friends
while
noting
the
dynamics
within
Jasmeet’s
professional
space.
Between
folks
harbouring
demons
of
their
own
behind
the
garb
of
authority
to
sexual
shame
driving
bright
minds
to
commit
dangerous
deeds,
The
Buckingham
Murders
delves
and
digresses
in
snatches
but
finds
its
deception
across
secrets,
retribution
and
sinister
conspiracies.
Except
the
buildup
never
feels
quite
like
one
and
the
upshot
is
a
series
of
contrivances
leaving
lowkey
Kareena
at
the
forefront
of
all
starkness.
Of
the
rest
of
the
cast,
Prabhleen
Sandhu
merits
some
appreciation
in
a
staggeringly
underwritten
role
but
Ash
Tandon’s
stiff
and
sexist
investigating
officer,
chef
Ranveer
Brar’s
embarrassingly
bad
turn
as
the
bereaved
father
and
Sarah-Jane
Dias
in
a
flimsy
cameo
does
them
no
favours.
Morality
is
the
core
of
Mehta’s
cinematic
fibre
and
the
social
issues
it
spawns.
Both
its
mystery
and
mediation
of
grief
are
mindful
of
his
sensibilities
in
Jasmeet’s
poignant
release.
There
is
enormous
evil
in
the
world
perpetuated
by
the
very
society
that
becomes
its
first
victim.
Having
felt
its
damaging
consequences
first
hand,
Jasmeet
is
determined
to
stop
it
from
causing
further
destruction.
It’s
evident
in
her
resolve
to
save
an
accused
whose
guilt
she
is
unconvinced
about.
Distressed
cops
finding
closure
to
their
personal
trauma
over
the
course
of
resolving
a
murky
murder
mystery
has
produced
mesmerising
character
studies
in
Kate
Winslet’s
Mare
of
Easttown
to
Surinder
Vicky
in
Kohraa.
While
The
Buckingham
Murders
has
neither
complexity,
its
straightforward
set-up
finds
its
heft
in
Jasmeet’s
grit
to
set
things
right.
Alas,
weakly
justified
false
alarms,
hastily
implemented
turnarounds
and
sloppily
indicted
wrongdoers
bring
down
the
momentum
of
what
could
be
a
tauter,
tenser
drama.
The
Buckingham
Murders
Review
Rediff
Rating:
