The Buckingham Murders is a grief-centered police procedural, not a fast, twist-first thriller. Its measured investigation and Kareena Kapoor Khan’s restrained lead performance give it a clear identity, but the mystery’s familiar turns can leave the detective’s credibility—and the film’s tension—open to question.
What is The Buckingham Murders about?
Directed by Hansal Mehta, the 2024 crime drama follows a grieving police officer sent to investigate a missing child in High Wycombe, England. The detective is herself bereaved after her child was murdered, so the case brings personal grief into what might otherwise be a conventional small-town investigation. The British Council describes the film as an India–UK co-production; it premiered in the BFI London Film Festival’s 2023 Official Selection. Balaji Telefilms announced its theatrical release for 13 September 2024 and identified Kareena Kapoor Khan as co-producer.
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The setting matters beyond its English backdrop: the investigation gradually exposes hostilities beneath the town’s quiet surface. The film is in Hindi. The BBFC’s VOD record lists a running time of approximately 107 minutes; that is a classification record, not a guarantee of the length of every version or platform listing.
Does the procedural work?
The film’s police-work framework is deliberately measured. Rather than propel the story through constant action, it lets the missing-child case unfold through the detective’s encounters with the people around it. That approach gives the supporting cast room to come into focus, but it also places a lot of weight on the case’s ability to sustain suspense.
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Here the film’s central trade-off becomes apparent: its restrained pace suits a story shaped by grief and community tension, yet the mystery can feel familiar when its turns do not offer enough surprise. The National’s 2024 review gave the film 4/5, describing its movement as slow and calculated and noting how each twist reveals another side of the supporting cast. The Indian Express awarded it 2.5/5, praising Kapoor Khan’s no-nonsense presence while arguing that the film succumbs to obviousness. These are two critics’ judgments, not a measure of audience consensus.
Is the heroine convincing?
Kapoor Khan is the film’s anchor: her performance gives the detective a controlled, unsentimental exterior that fits the procedural mode. But the character’s credibility is less secure than the performance. The story asks viewers to follow an investigator whose private bereavement is inseparable from a case involving another missing child. That connection gives the premise emotional force, while also making the detective’s judgment and distance harder to take for granted.
That tension is the most useful sense in which the heroine feels “dodgy”: not as a claim that the film establishes her as corrupt, but as a question of whether her personal investment makes her a fully persuasive investigator. The film’s quiet, workmanlike manner does not always sharpen that question into productive suspense. Some viewers may find the emotional overlap compelling; others may feel the character is less convincing than the actor playing her.
Rank #2
- Garage Sale Mysteries Collection 4 ( Pandora's Box / The Mask Murder / Picture a Murder )
- Garage Sale Mysteries Collection 4
- Pandora's Box / The Mask Murder / Picture a Murder
Who is the film for?
Choose The Buckingham Murders if you want a Hindi-language crime drama that treats a detective’s grief as central and prefers patient investigation to a rapid succession of shocks. It is a less certain fit if you want an especially intricate puzzle or a brisk thriller whose twists consistently overturn expectations.
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Content notes
For the UK theatrical Hindi-language classification, the BBFC lists strong language, strong violence and drug misuse. Its additional advice flags discrimination, suicide and self-harm references, sexual threat, injury detail, grief and flashing images. The BBFC’s separate VOD record identifies Netflix as distributor, but that UK classification entry does not establish current availability on Netflix in every country.
