The Buckingham Murders 2023

Jasmeet “Jass” Bhamra, Kareena Kapoor Khan, a British-Indian detective, mourns the loss of her child, killed by a drug-addicted shooter. This grief shadows her every move as she takes a transfer to Buckinghamshire and is handed a new case: the disappearance of a young Indian boy named Ishpreet Kohli. The assignment lands with Miller, and the case quickly pulls Jass into a web of family secrets, adoption, and old loyalties. Ishpreet’s adoptive status becomes a crucial thread, pulling at the Kohli family’s fractured history, and Jass learns that the boy’s background is tangled with the very people who should have protected him. Along the way, she uncovers rough edges in the investigation: Patel’s entangled history with Ishpreet’s relatives, including a former drug dealer in the family circle, and a murky past that mirrors the gravity of the crime.

From the moment Jass interviews Ishpreet’s parents, Daljeet and Preeti Kohli, the case deepens. Ishpreet, it turns out, was adopted, a fact that complicates questions of motive and blood ties. The investigation widens as CCTV and cell-phone traces point toward Ishpreet’s last known location—an ordinary park where life and crime intersect in quiet, daybreak light. Patel, the lead detective on the ground, presses his team through the long night, pushing for every clue as dawn approaches. In the park, the team discovers a broken thread of a life interrupted: Ishpreet’s body is found in an abandoned car, a brutal end that shocks the community. The car’s origin leads them to a Muslim man, whose nephew Saquib Chaudhary, a recovering drug addict with his own history of trouble, is seen borrowing the vehicle on the day of the murder. Saquib’s linkage to the local Imam’s son, Naved, deepens the entanglement of personal and religious networks in the investigation.

The plot thickens as investigators chase further leads. Naved reveals a troubling twist: Saquib killed Ishpreet in a violent burst of rage tied to the drug trade Ishpreet had been delivering. Saquib is arrested, but Jass remains unconvinced by the official tale and presses Patel and Miller to see beyond the surface. A sharp confrontation ensues when Patel taunts Jass about her own loss; unable to stay silent, she strikes him and is pulled away from the case, reassigned to a desk. Yet her resolve does not waver. Even from behind a desk, she continues to unthread the case, inching toward a deeper truth that others would prefer to ignore.

Behind the desk, Jass uncovers a new thread: Patel’s sister is in a coma, a victim of drug supply linked to Saquib. This discovery intensifies the stakes and sharpens Jass’s questions about who really benefits from Ishpreet’s death. Her persistence leads her to a prison visit with Saquib, where he offers a confession of sorts. He admits that he and Ishpreet had a confrontation, but insists he did not kill Ishpreet. He also drops a startling claim: Naved and Saquib are lovers, and Naved had struck a deal with Patel to lie about the murder in exchange for Saquib’s release. This revelation prompts Jass to confront Miller with the truth about Patel’s actions, a confrontation that ends in tragedy when Patel shoots and kills himself.

With Saquib released, Jass shifts her focus to a new prime suspect: Daljeet Kohli, Ishpreet’s adoptive father. Daljeet’s life is in distress—his transport business falters, and he has taken out a large life insurance policy on Ishpreet. The investigation reveals a pattern of dysfunction: Daljeet’s affair with Indrani Rai, and a volatile, abusive dynamic with Preeti Kohli. In parallel, Prithvi, Daljeet’s relative, is seen pressuring Preeti, a detail that deepens the motive for violence. The tension culminates when Daljeet murders Prithvi in a fit of rage after witnessing the inappropriate advances.

When Daljeet is arrested, he denies killing his adoptive son. A house search turns up Ishpreet’s missing backpack and a burner phone that Ishpreet used to deal drugs. A phone call traced from the device leads to Preeti, who is suddenly revealed as the mastermind behind Ishpreet’s disappearance. Preeti had manipulated Prithvi to kill Ishpreet and orchestrated a scenario in which Daljeet would murder Prithvi, all to free herself from an abusive marriage. With the case closed, Jass is left to grapple with a personal ache that mirrors the case’s emotional toll: she seeks closure for her own son’s death, a memory that remains unresolved even as a courtroom drama resolves on the surface.

The film threads a tense, reflective mood through its brisk investigation, alternating between the present danger of crime and the quieter, aching wounds of family strife. It explores the way grief can distort motive, how secrets fester in closed doors, and how a determined detective can push through professional obstacles to illuminate the truth, even when that truth comes at a personal cost. The narrative moves through a mosaic of characters who inhabit a shared space of trauma and betrayal, each revelation peeling back another layer of motive, loyalty, and the costs of silence.

• Ishpreet Kohli’s journey is central to the case, and his story threads through every major turning point. Sartaaj Kakkar gives voice to a boy whose life and death catalyze the investigation.

• Daljeet Kohli and Preeti Kohli’s troubled marriage and the larger family dynamics drive the later twists, with Ranveer Brar and Prabhleen Sandhu portraying the figures at the heart of the conflict.

• The web of betrayals expands to include Indrani Rai and the Imam’s circle, where the fragile line between loyalty and gaslighting is tested, with Sarah-Jane Dias among the cast.

• The earlier, raw emotional wound of Jass’s own loss shapes her judgment and resilience, reflected in her relentless pursuit of truth despite personal cost, a thread that binds her to the case long after the initial investigation ends.