Los Asesinatos de Buckingham

I attended this film with my usual crap shoot selection system. I suppose that this film could have a token Manhattan release given the city's diversity. Producer Kareena Kapoor Khan plays Jaspreet Bharma, a British-Indian detective overwhelmed by grief after her young son's murder. She accepts a demotion just to move and gets to Buckinghamshire. Of course, upon arrival she gets a missing boy case, the adopted son of Daljeet (Ranveer Drar) and Preeti (Prabhleen Sandhu). She refused it, but if that went through there would be no film. KKK is a star back home. But her British accent is not great and she is a poor runner. Drar is pretty good as the anguished yet misogynist father. He has a very sexy mistress to help drown his sorrows. Adwoa Akoto is nice eye candy as Bharma's fast friend on the force Sharon Marks. The true killer has a very weak motive and their identity truly comes out of left field. It felt unwarranted and bizarre. We get to see a lot of the Muslim community and how estranged they are from the mainstream. I felt that this film does what most film goers want. It kills time, but that is about all. KKK's fans will be happy to see her on screen. But the screening only had about a dozen people, three of whom were Indian. She ultimately was not much of a draw.

This movie which was a Whodunit was an average movie with lots of twists and turns until the very end. These cat and mouse themed films can only be really enjoyed when everything is in sync viz.very good script,acting direction &editing as there is no glamour to help when another section is lacking Unfortunately this film ticked all of the boxes except the acting. Since this was a very low budget movie besides Kareena there were no other stars which was perfectly understandable &acceptable. However the acting of the junior staff was in sync with the budget,low or at best average! If they had some brilliant performances,it would have lifted the movie a great deal as it had a very good script but this did not happen!

6/10.

This is a murder mystery where Kareen Kapoor is the lead detective. The first half of the film starts OK but turns in a maze of confusion in second half. It appears the story is written just to make a complex murder mystery but doesn't make much sense. It relies on a number of unrelated co-incidences happening together just to keep it interesting. Kareena's acting is very average. It seems she is just doing what she has been told to do and that is pretty much it. Scream when you are asked to scream; slap when you are asked to slap. But she is not able to portray any emotions leading into any of those actions. Disappointing that someone who has spent around 20 years acting can't still do justice to a serious role. I would suggest to give the movie a pass. Nothing new here.

It was an average movie. Too many plot twists within a limited time frame of one hour and fifty minutes, which did not allow sufficient time for character development. As a result, the reveals appeared rushed and slightly unconvincing.

Kareena played the role of a UK cop to the best of her abilities, however, if you're going to play that role, you need to understand how a second-generation British-Indian police officer walks, talks and behaves. And if she's going to stick to this genre of whodunnits or thrillers, she's going to have to learn how to run without looking like the female version of Forrest Gump.

The Buckingham Murders has a strong plot and an intriguing storyline that pulls you in from the start. It weaves a suspenseful narrative that keeps you hooked until the end. The cast delivers commendable performances, and the film shows high production quality. However, it's difficult not to notice a recurring trope in Bollywood: the inclusion of religious tension, specifically between Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh communities. This time, the addition of these elements felt forced and detracted from an otherwise solid thriller.

It's understandable that art sometimes reflects social realities, but in The Buckingham Murders, the handling of these themes felt stereotypical and added unnecessary weight to the story. The portrayal of certain groups, particularly in a negative light, came across as a cliché, diminishing the film's uniqueness and seeming like a repetitive, almost predictable approach seen in other Indian movies. This kind of treatment might appeal to some audiences but for others, it can feel heavy-handed and repetitive.

If the film had focused solely on the mystery at its core, it could have been a remarkable addition to the thriller genre. Instead, the attempt to add layers of religious and communal strife ends up detracting from the narrative. This movie would have stood stronger without these added stereotypes, which risk overshadowing the well-executed plot and skillful acting.