Kareena Kapoor Khan is in top form in this choppy and bleak-but-intriguing murder mystery
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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.