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“At that point one wondered that will we ever get answers about the why and how of it all? That stayed with me for a while,” says Yadav, who then met with the documentary team at Netflix and told them that she wanted to explore something on this and they were onboard. But even after a whole year passing, “I knew nothing about the case,” says Yadav. “I knew tidbits, some scraps of information that were blown out of proportion, but I didn’t know the real truth. That’s what intrigued me,” adds Yadav, who has earlier directed films like Parched and Rajma Chawal. The spotlight shifts, a little too late in the series to allow for the kind of in-depth analysis hardcore true-crime fans will crave, to Lalit.
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Of course there isn’t, he says, again as if he is thinking out loud. And you can’t help but admire the directors’ decision to end the show on such a poignant, but potentially provocative note. The access that the filmmakers have been granted in House of Secrets is admirably expansive.
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The series wastes no time in getting straight to the heart of what he found there, showing harrowing images the trigger warning at the outset attempts to, but can in no way, prepare you for. The case turned the national spotlight on the bylanes of Delhi’s Burari area, a blow one gets the sense it has still not recovered from, as is often the case with communities at the heart of which something uncommonly rotten emerges. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle. The biggest challenge for Yadav was getting to the truth.
‘House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths’ documentary gives chilling insights into the 2018 Delhi case - Lifestyle Asia India
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A Family of 11 Died in a Mass Suicide Three Years Ago. A New Netflix Series Shows Why It’s Not Over Yet.
He had been subjected to a head injury and also a traumatic event in the past. After his father, Bhopal Singh, passed away, Lalit started showing obscure behavior. When the editorial board of BJPsych International acceded to the launch of a web-based monthly arts blog, I volunteered as the commissioning editor. I did this partly because I already straddled the worlds of psychiatry and the creative arts. But also because it was an opportunity to be a part of something new.
Almost three years back, the country woke up to the horrific news of 11 deaths in a single night. What set aside the news of 11 dead people, was the sheer strangeness of the situation. The 11 were all part of a single family — ranging from a young teen to an elderly grandmother — and found dead hanging by their necks in the open space in their own house.
Yadav consciously stayed away from researching the case any further before the filming began. The idea was to peel the layers to the story as the interviews took place with those connected to the case – from the Burari family’s neighbours, friends and extended family to cops, journalists and psychologists. The production covered a total of 400 hours of interviews, and having those conversations was “emotionally draining” for the crew.
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“For me, the mind behind the crime is the biggest catch. Why is crime such a huge genre, across fiction and non-fiction? “There is a certain pleasure we take in watching it, it’s a moment of feeling that we are better than this” adds Yadav. Later called ‘The ‘Burari Mass Suicide case’ by the police and in media circles, the case is the subject of a latest crime docu-series, titled House of Secrets– The Burari Deaths, which has been created by director Leena Yadav. The three-part series streams on Netflix, and has a musical score that’s been composed by AR Rahman.
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In the end, I was left wondering what had happened. You will be left questioning whether this was a mass murder or a suicide, and that will stay with you. If you are someone who has an appetite for true crime, this is a fantastic documentary to watch. I had never heard about this incident and I have found this a fascinating documentary. There is enough detailed footage and stories for me to feel well informed, yet I still feel left a bit hopeless. Like any good documentary, this one has you questioning and thinking from beginning to end.
I had to surrender to it, as the emotional content was so strong,” says Yadav, who is an alumna of Delhi’s LSR College and went on to study Mass Communication at Sophia College, Mumbai. I feel that the same thing told through a different lens will be a different experience for everyone involved,” she says. Ultimately, a discussion about mental health, and the power and influence the patriarchal figure holds in Indian society might have been a more insightful place for this fascinating documentary to start. A psychological autopsy concluded they believed they would walk away from the ritualistic hanging to emerge on to a higher plane. Pages and pages of musings, revealed by handwriting analysis to have been written by Priyanka and Neetu, had been dictated by Lalit, who had come to believe his dead father was not only communicating with him, but also visiting him.
From superstition to collective psychosis, the series dwells upon several causes but it doesn’t seek to provide any clear, decisive answers. Instead, Leena, with the help of police officials, journalists, medical experts, and of course friends, relatives, and neighbours of the deceased Chundawat family, conducts a kind of social autopsy. The second episode in the series, titled “Diaries,” forms the crux of the story as it charts the breakthrough in the investigation when cops found diaries in the house written over 11 years and, eerily enough, written in the third person. The diaries had detailed instructions on how every single member of the family is supposed to go through life, where they are to invest their money, and detailed instructions for “mass salvation” including how hangings should be conducted. This docuseries examines chilling truths and theories around the deaths of 11 members of a Delhi family.
It’s worth remembering the names and ages of these family members, because the series offers scant insight into who they were as people, their hopes, dreams and aspirations. Information about the youngest victims, the two teenage boys in particular, falls disappointingly short. But while the series will satisfy anyone unfamiliar with the fate of the Bhatias, those au fait with the crime may be left wanting more. What I really appreciate is in the final episode co-directors Leena Yadav and Anubhav Chopra focus on the friends, family, neighbors, those who have scars that will never heal. Allowing for some healing in what is a truly, tragic case.
Whatever they say solves a part of the jigsaw puzzle, but could not complete the picture, because ultimately there is no clear consensus even on whether it was a crime story. The conversations with journalists and police officers are candid. The then-SHO of Burari police station seems to be enjoying narrating the experience, but as the series progresses, we realise it is just his general demeanour and that he is also affected by the case. Regaining his senses, he rushed back to inform everyone. Soon a crowd that included neighbors, media reporters, police officials, family members and obviously inquisitive individuals hoarded the locality.
Ultimately, it seems to have pushed the family to take the extreme step. Interviews with the fiance of Lalit’s niece and his family could have opened a few more windows into the mind of the family that held on to its secrets till the very last. In the opening montage of the Netflix docu-series, sunlight gets trapped in the large mesh of electricity wires hanging from poles in the narrow lane 4 of Sant Nagar in Burari, North Central Delhi.
The series begins with the deaths before branching out into the hows and whys. At first, murder is not ruled out, and while it likely felt necessary to follow the police investigation in that brief direction, the entire first episode feels a little like being led up the garden path. A cursory internet search yields the outcome of the case, which is why a deeper dig into the whys might have been a better use of screen time. Presented across three 45-minute episodes, the limited series from Netflix’s original documentary arm offers unparalleled access to both media and Bhatia family home movie footage, as well as interviews with family, friends and law enforcement. The police indicate that everyone dies and that there is no way to predict this, which just infuriated and confused me. The last diary entry is of the macabre “Banyan Tree” ritual that commanded the family members to hang themselves in a formation resembling the hanging roots of a banyan tree, on the premise that their deceased patriarch would save them from dying.
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