The Buckingham Murders' Netflix release has left streamers questioning its real life inspirations and if there is any truth to its criminal tale.
The Real and Fake of The Buckinghamshire Murders
While The Buckingham Murders has a fictional murder-centric plot that is not directly based on any true story as its murderous plot is fictional, the Indian crime thriller does draw inspirations from real life and other projects in the genre.
During an interview with The Upcoming at London Film Festival 2023, The Buckingham Murders director Hansal Mehta was asked what inspired him when it came to his latest project.
The director pointed out how his main inspiration to develop the movie came from "the plot," but noted how multiple real-world themes came into play:
"Initially the plot is what inspired me, but as you look at the plot and you start exploring further, you realize there are multiple themes that sort of concern you, that you would like to explore through the film."
Mehta continued to note how him finding grief "difficult to process" contributed to the flick, which explores a grieving mother's efforts to solve the murder of a 10-year-old child. This may have left Mehta drawing from his own feelings to inspire the leading character:
"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."
The Netflix murder mystery, as the title suggests, takes place in the Buckinghamshire region of South East England. As noted by the director in his interview, the movie was, in fact, "primarily shot in Buckinghamshire," meaning much of the landscape is accurate to the real world:
"This film is primarily shot in Buckinghamshire, in the UK. So I wanted to set it within a small community, within a small town, but not too far from London. So that place sort of lent itself to this story."
He was later asked about the decision to focus his Netflix crime thriller on a female lead in a genre dominated by men. Mehta explained how Jasmeet Bhamra being a mother was integral from the beginning, which later expands into her place as a detective.
The Indian filmmaker continued to explained that Bhamra operates in a "very, very female workplace" and much of her characterization came from "a lot of research," perhaps suggesting an effort to ensure the film was realistic to the setting of the film:
"For me, she was a mother first, and that was important to me. Also to treat her as a mother without really binding her to other relationships. Because the moment she's a mother, you also sort of assign other roles to her - wife, lover. So you're looking at her as a mother, and as a detective. And if you look at the police at her workplace, there's so many females there, it's a very very female workplace. So it's again based on a lot of research that we had done."
For context, the region of Buckinghamshire where the film takes place is covered by Thames Valley Police which, according to Police.uk, has 50.% female officers in the general force population, which drops greatly across the higher ranks.
Looking at the population of police officers across England and Wales, as stated by the House of Commons' official website, 35% of police officers across the country are female.
As such, it's clear the setting of The Buckinghamshire Murders has an above average presence of female officers, which Mehta looked to represent in the flick.
Lastly, detailing the themes of The Buckinghamshire Murders, Mehta explained how "grief, trauma, and motherhood" are all present, which is clear through Bhamra's struggles of losing her son and simultaneously exploring the death of another child:
"As I said, it's primarily a murder mystery thriller. But the themes of grief, trauma, and motherhood, they run through the film."
The Buckingham Murders may not be based on a true story, but many viewers have likened the crime thriller to Kate Winslet's HBO series, Mare of Easttown.
Star Kareena Kapoor Khan, who plays the leading figure of Jasmeet Bhamra, confirmed to Variety her character was inspired by Winslet's Marianne Sheehan. She explained that a role akin to this was something she has "been dying to do" due to her love of Mare of Easttown:
“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.”
The Buckingham Murders is streaming now on Netflix.
