The Buckingham Murders from Hansal Mehta is one of the more unusual Indian films. A slow-burn thriller in the genre of Broadchurch, the film is largely in English with a few Hindi lines of dialogue. Kareena Kapoor, the lead actress, has been presented in a de-glam avatar. Yet, the film is doing well at the box office considering its scale. In an exclusive chat with DNA, the director Hansal Mehta talks about the film’s reception and the obsession of box office numbers.
Mehta says that contrary to the norm, he prefers to take a break before his film releases, largely to detach. “I’ll be lying if I say I don’t (get nervous). I can afford to take a break now. Earlier, I couldn’t so I used to hide. Now before the film is releasing, I leave and cut off. It allows you to move on or you get stuck,” he tells us.
However, the modern-day ask of film promotions does not let him do that, “It’s a tough balance. The PR firms don’t let me cut off that easily,” he says with a laugh. The director laments how films have been reduced to their weekend collections, which is what drives the intensive promotional campaigns. He explains, “What happens is that unfortunately we have made this a very short game, a weekend game. Whereas films, I believe, are for posterity. You can reflect in time. We don’t give it that time now. We reduce films to a number and I find that very demeaning to the work that you have done. People who have nothing to do with film and its investment become commentators and behave like stakeholders, without a holistic understanding of how films’ business model actually functions.”
Mehta says that he prefers not to get involved in discussions about his film’s box office numbers. “It’s very reductive. I cannot participate in that reductive conversation. It reduces it to the mediocrity of the mind that is equating a film to its number,” he says.
But The Buckingham Murders has generated conversations outside the box office as well, ranging from Kareena’s performance to the film’s distinct setting. A pleased Hansal adds, “That’s how the conversation should be. I am very pleased with the way the film has been received. People have opinions and I might disagree with them. I may even get angry at some but at least, you have watched the film and you are talking about it. The fact that this film has opened up conversations about so many things, including Kareena the actor, is wonderful.”
The Buckingham Murders has released in two versions, one the original English and a Hindi-dubbed. The fact that the English version has accounted for roughly 40% of the earnings in India has surprised many trade pundits. Mehta says, “The way the audiences have received this film shows they have grown but we haven’t. It’s an eco-system, which includes filmmakers, producers, and the people who review films. They haven’t grown as much as the audience have. The audience is craving for. I learnt that with Scam 1992. It was rejected by most platforms because people said it is about a financial scam with a Gujarati character and it won’t work. The show proved the opposite. It was new for people and they embraced it. We create these convenient safety nets for ourselves only to be proved wrong.”
But the director agrees that commercial demands had to be met, which is why the Hindi-dubbed version was also released alongside. “Ekta (Kapoor, the film’s producer) spoke to me and said Kareena Kapoor is a big star. There is an audience that wants to see her even if it’s in this new avatar. Hence, the Hindi version will allow us to reach that audience. That was the rationale behind this. But as the last few days have proved, people have embraced the English version. It has gone beyond the expectations.”
The Buckingham Murders has grossed over Rs 8 crore in its first four days with strong hold on weekdays. Given its relatively low budget, the film is expected to break even by the end of its run.
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