Review: Kareena Kapoor Khan packs a punch as a fierce cop in 'The Buckingham Murders'

Gulf News

Kareena Kapoor Khan is in top form in this choppy and bleak-but-intriguing murder mystery  Read the full story here:   See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km

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00:00Good evening, everyone. This is Manjusha Radhakrishnan. I'm the entertainment editor of Gulf News

00:08Dubai. I'm here with the review of Kareena Kapoor Khan's latest murder mystery, the Buckingham

00:14murders out in the UAE cinemas today. So it's a crime procedural where she plays a British

00:20Indian cop called Jaspreet or Jazz, as we call it. And one thing that I've realized

00:26while watching the movie is that Kareena Kapoor Khan has mastered this art of breaking

00:32down on the screen. When she cries, there's no makeup on her face or when she screams

00:37in rage, when she's going through an emotional breakdown, you can't help but feel all those

00:42feelings with her. I think that's a true mark of a great actress. She doesn't need any crutches.

00:48Her eyes do all the talking. And I think she can do the ugly crying to such a great extent

00:54that you feel deeply moved by her performance. There is no doubt that in this director Hansal

01:00Mehta's crime procedural, it is Kareena Kapoor that owns the show. From start to finish,

01:06you can't help but look at her and you can't help marvel at how much she has improved as

01:10an actress. She plays a British Indian cop who who's very efficient at her job, but then

01:17is undergoing a personal tragedy. Her son gets killed in a freak accident, is murdered

01:22by a white man with a gun. It's a freak accident. She's still trying to overcome this deeply

01:29personal tragedy and trauma. So she seeks a transfer and enters a small town. She shifts

01:37to a small town in England, where she's tasked with a case of a missing child. Now this new

01:43case, she's very reluctant to take the case at first. But then once she's into it, she's

01:48not able to step back. And it also does not give her a sense of closure. This movie taps

01:54into the grief, into untapped trauma, and the case of missing children splendidly. Director

02:02Hansal Mehta has done a neat job of adopting a very no-frills, coldly clinical approach.

02:09It reminded me of Mayor of East Town. If you've seen the limited series by Kate Winslet, where

02:14she plays a cop again, who's just struggling with her personal laws, and then investigating

02:20a case of a missing child. It's similar. Kareena Kapoor plays a similar role. What director

02:25Hansal Mehta has done splendidly is to tap into Kareena Kapoor's restrained acting. I

02:31mean, there are times when you feel that in certain movies, she goes over the top. But

02:35Hansal Mehta, I think, has drawn the subtle and powerful acting from the actress. Her

02:42role is very well defined. Then there is also celebrity chef Ranveer Brar, who plays the

02:49father whose child has gone missing. He does not look very happy. He's a very troubled

02:54businessman post-COVID. His business is struggling. His adopted son goes missing. He does not

03:01look like a great husband, seems to be borderline violent. We get to know of their strained

03:06dynamics as the investigation proceeds. What I loved about the movie is the no-frills

03:11approach. I mean, it's one of those bleak crime procedurals that just tell you things

03:17as it. There are no songs and unnecessary drama to derail the narrative. But what I

03:23thought while watching the movie, the UAE version of this film has been choppily edited.

03:28I feel crucial scenes were edited out, therefore watering down the effect that we might have

03:33towards the end. Pacing is so fractured that you feel that the beginning is such a slow

03:39burn that you kind of like give up on it. But towards the second half, it picks up pace.

03:43There are enough twists and turns, but it also gets overwhelming and confusing. There

03:48are no neat endings in this film. What I love about this movie are the collective performances.

03:53If you look at Kareena Kapoor Khan or Ranveer Brar, I mean, he's new to this, but he still

03:59pulls in weight and matches stride with Kareena Kapoor Khan. I mean, she's such a seasoned

04:05actress, but there are other actors who have also done a great job. Punjabi actress Praveen

04:11Sandhu, for instance, who plays the scared housewife has done a neat job too. It's the

04:16collective acting that makes this movie truly watchable. You might find the pace very slow,

04:22sometimes very uneven, but don't let that stop you from watching this entire movie or

04:28investing in it. Be warned, this movie will take time to come into its own. But then,

04:34have you ever seen a murder mystery with neat endings? This one does not have neat endings,

04:38but it still keeps you hooked. I've gone with 3.5 out of 5. For my full review, go to gulfnews.com.

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