Hansal Mehta breaks silence on box office performance of Kareena Kapoor-starrer The Buckingham Murders

The Buckingham Murders features Kareena Kapoor as Jasmeet Bhamra, a detective and a mother. The film released in theatres on September 13.

Kareena Kapoor's The Buckingham Murders released in theatres last Friday to favourable reviews. However, it had a slow start at the box office. In a new interview with DNA, director Hansal Mehta opened up about the box office concerns of the film for the first time, saying that he finds it ‘demeaning’ when films are reduced to numbers. (Also read: The Buckingham Murders box office collection day 5: Kareena Kapoor film dips further, earns ₹75 lakh)

Kareena Kapoor also co-produced The Buckingham Murders.

What Hansal said

Speaking about box office numbers, Hansal said, “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.”

Hansal went on to add, “It’s a tough balance. The PR firms don’t let me cut off that easily. 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.”

More details

As per Sacnilk.com, The Buckingham Murders has earned just over ₹6.5 crore nett in India so far. Kareena plays a detective and mother who, after losing her own child, must investigate the murder of a 10-year-old in Buckinghamshire. The film is written by Aseem Arrora, Kashyap Kapoor, and Raghav Raj Kakker. It is produced by Balaji Telefilms and TBM Films alongside Shobha Kapoor, Ektaa Kapoor, and Kareena. With this film, Kareena made her debut as a producer.