2 days Ago By Firstpost
Everybody has a different way of dealing with grief and so does Jass Bhamra (Kareena Kapoor Khan) and she has beautifully depicted it just through the expressions of her eyes. Immersive, engaging and edgy, The Buckingham Murders is a must watch not only for grieving parents, but for all. The best thing about Hansal Mehta’s films is that he never fails to impress his audiences.
Kareena Kapoor Khan film The Buckingham Murders teaches us that we shouldn’t hurry with justice especially when there are kids involved. We all know that ‘justice delayed is justice denied’. But at the same time we need to understand that ‘justice hurried is justice buried’.
And that’s exactly what the film is about. In an EXCLUSIVE interview with Firstpost, Mehta talks about his experience of making the film. He believes that every filmmaker has a distinct voice.
If you don’t have a voice, if you don’t have a signature with which you can recognize the director, then you’re one among the crowd. Edited excerpts from the interview: After such a successful streak on OTT with Scoop, Scam , and Lootere ? What was it like? Why did you want to make The Buckingham Murders on a big screen? Well, you know, you make feature films for the cinemas, and you always want to see them on the big screen. For this, there were people who told us that maybe we should go directly to OTT and what not.
But I think there was no doubt in our mind that we wanted to make this an experience at the cinema halls. And it’s a great feeling to have your film in the cinema halls. What was the thought process that went behind the making of The Buckingham Murders ? Because it’s a very differently made movie, which we rarely get to see these days in theatres.
I look at a story, and I find things that anchor me to them. You know, what hooks me? Whatever stories I tell, the characters need to resonate with me. Because the character of Jass was the first thing that sort of resonated with me when Aseem Arrora narrated this idea to me when we were shooting for, he was one of the writers And when he narrated this idea to me, it just struck me because I’ve never tried this genre before.
And secondly, because I felt that there was a possibility of going beyond just modern history. I could look at immigrant life in the UK. The story gave me a lot of chances to explore.
Do I feel that these characters, do I want to explore these characters? Do I want to explore their world? That was the primary motivation when I heard the story. We went through multiple iterations. Balaji came in around 2019.
When they signed me on. And somewhere in 2020, Kareena joined the film. And, I think ultimately, we shot the film towards the end of 2022.
What was it like working with Kareena Kapoor? I’ve always found her to be a phenomenal actor, and somebody who was waiting to sort of be explored further. I think she has been underutilized as an actor. And, I think this is just the beginning of Kareena Kapoor, the actor.
That the world will discover how much she has to offer. You know, she is definitely a big star, which is why audiences go to the cinemas to watch her. But I think she is more than that, she is also a phenomenally gifted actor.
It’s a very instinctive, very instinctively response to the material, to the moment, to the environment. And women’s roles are changing. Like, when Kareena as you’ve said, was underutilized.
She was more like an ornament so far in movies when she started. Now what do you have to say about this change? I don’t know. I don’t agree with that.
You know, Geet was not an ornament. But very few. Chameli was not an ornament.
In Talaash , she was not an ornament. So, I mean, we made these sweeping generalizations. We’ve had, all but, I mean, I think we need to write more roles for actors of her caliber.
We need to write more parts. We may need to make more films. We need to give the audience more of them, in various forms.
You know, while you will see her in Singham Returns , you will see her in a Crew . I think the audience also deserves to see her in something like The Buckingham Murders . Another thing I would say, see, the career of a woman in acting used to end quickly.
Everybody is not SRK. What do you have to say about this change? Don’t you think it’s a brilliant change with so many different narratives? Now she’s playing her role. She’s a grieving mother.
What do you have to say about this beautiful change? You said it. They’re your views about it. It’s difficult for me to answer this, to be honest, because I don’t see actors based on their age.
There’s a character that somebody has to play, and you will cast correctly for that character. So for me, age and all those things are a number. They don’t matter.
It is about correctly getting the correct actor to play the correct part. And, what was so different about The Buckingham Murders? The dealing with grief, that anger, yet not overdoing that bit. For me, I think it was about exploration.
And, I made it in the way I make films, in the way I tell stories. It’s got my own signature, my own style. And that’s how I do it.
Every filmmaker has a distinct voice. If you don’t have a voice, if you don’t have a signature with which you can recognize the director, then you’re one among the crowd. And I don’t see that either.
It is just how I tell stories. And, you know, for me, beyond modern history and other things, it was about exploring human emotions. It’s about exploring interrelations, how grief is manifested in your day to day life, how you try to cope with grief through what you do.
Is it a problem in the UK about the thing that you’ve shown? What was the research that went behind? It’s a communal thing, then the immigration problem, then it’s about addiction. It’s happening all around us. I mean it’s not central.
It’s very prevalent in the UK and many European countries in the US. We read about it every day. I’ve spent a lot of time here.
There was a lot of research into making the fame local. Many people have remarked that when I showed it at the festival here, I thought that it was made by a British filmmaker. Then they thought I lived in the UK.
I made Indian films while living in the UK. The film has toured several festivals. So is there anything different with the final theatrical cut or the acceptance from the audience? No.
It’s different, a slightly shorter film. I think it’s around 6 to 7 minutes less than the festival cut. And, there is a new background score.
And there’s a Hindi dubbed version also. But most of the halls will show the Hindi dubbed version. We saw the English version, but most of the cinema halls in and around Bombay and Delhi will be showing the Hindi version? No.
I think there are more theatres showing the English version. I know that the English version is the one that I would prefer people see because that’s the original language of the movie. And, I’m actually on a break, I’m in London.
I’m on a break. I’m here to drop my daughter off at university. What was the Ranveer Brar connection? You and he have worked before in Modern Love.
He’s a chef, but he always wanted to be an actor. What was the involvement? What made you get him into this project? When Mukesh Chhabra and I sit to cast, it’s very instinctive. We discuss the character, and then we try to find somebody that looks the part, not somebody who will add the film or make the film saleable and all that.
And when we had that look, that of this Punjabi, conservative, NRI, we felt he was right, and that’s it. And I always have faith in him as somebody who has the potential to be a very good actor. And, of course, the bonus is that he was with us for nearly 3 weeks through the shooting and he was cooking for us.
The film has been received very well by the audience. Is there a sequel coming up to The Buckingham Murders? Well, it’s early days. I just want a slight little break.
I’ve had a very hectic year, and I’m looking at taking a slight, small break before I get back to it. What next for you? Gandhi . Can’t speak too much about it, it is currently under the thick of post-production.
I mean, it’s something that I really want the world to see..
