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The Buckingham Murders, a 2024 crime thriller set in England's Buckinghamshire, has drawn much attention for its realistic setting. This Indian production is directed by Hansal Mehta, known for making films like Aligarh and web series like Scam 2010: The Subrata Roy Saga.
The movie tells the story of Detective Jasmeet Bhamra, played by Kareena Kapoor Khan. She is a grieving mother whose investigation into the murder of a young boy propels her through the maze of personal grief and professional pursuits.
While the murder at the center of the plot is fictional, Mehta's film is based on realistic societal themes. The plot explores grief, motherhood, and trauma based on Mehta's experiences with loss. The Buckingham Murders hinges on the resilience of a mother who is coping with major personal loss.
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The Buckingham Murders was made available for streaming on Netflix starting November 8, 2024. The film had its theatrical release on September 13, 2024.
Real-life themes which inspired The Buckingham Murders
The Buckingham Murders is not directly based on any real events, but it significantly drew from real-life themes that inspire the protagonist's journey. Director Hansal Mehta spoke about the film at the 2023 London Film Festival and said that his primary inspiration came from his own experience of finding grief "difficult to process".
"Grief has always been something that I find difficult to process. So through your stories you sort of try to work on yourself and that's what this allowed me to do," he said.
Setting and authenticity of The Buckingham Murders
Mehta said that the film was mainly shot in England's Buckinghamshire, to capture the spirit of a small, tight-knit community. The town in the film is a fictional one but much of the landscape is authentic to actual Buckinghamshire.
The police force in the film is depicted as predominantly female, which aligns with Mehta’s extensive research about the police force in Buckinghamshire. As per The Direct, Thames Valley Police, which services Buckinghamshire, has about 50 percent female officers in the general force population.
Influence of Mare of Easttown and Genre Similarities
The protagonist, Jasmeet Bhamra has many similarities with Kate Winslet's character from the HBO series Mare of Easttown. Kareena Kapoor Khan was very excited to play a female detective like Winslet's Marianne Sheehan, in a small-town crime mystery.
In an interview with Variety, Kareena Kapoor Khan spoke about the similarity between Bhamra and Sheehan and said:
“I love ‘Mare of Easttown’ and when Hansal came to me, I said this is something that I’ve really been dying to do. So we’ve molded a little bit on those lines, she plays a detective cop in that. It’s the first time that I’ve dabbled in that.”
Though The Buckingham Murders is not based on a true story, the movie incorporates real-world influences, drawing on Hansal Mehta’s personal experiences and a realistic setting to enrich the plot.
