‘House of Secrets- the Burari Deaths’ streaming on Netflix
In 2018, from the narrow lane of Sant Nagar Burari, between the bundles of electricity wires hanging from the pole amid the early rays of the morning came a horror wave that shook the nation.
The whole country woke up in a state of disturbance when 11 people spanning 3 generations of the same family died in Delhi’s Burari area.
No witnesses, no suspects and no survivors except the pet dog was left, which grabbed attention.
Questions the documentary tries to answer
It bizarrely seemed to be a case of mass suicide but raised series of questions. Why does a seemingly happy family hang themselves?
How come eleven people with intellectual diversity spanning three generations agreed to end their life? Did anyone of them try to stop it? Is it a suicide case?
Three years later, director Leena Yadav tries to spin the web that led to the horror gripping incident.
From a ritual gone wrong to the happy image a family weaves, the documentary harps on the societal norms people are stuck in.
At the hands of journalists, police, neighbours, extending family, psychologists and friends, Leena Yadav tries to orchestrate the post-mortem of the case itself.
Mental Health
The series accentuated that a person should be mentally healthy for oneself and keep the people around them out of harm.
It reflects how when we are not healthy; we tend to hurt the people around us. It examines society’s psyche about mental health and tries to catechize the stigma about it.
The documentary shows Lalit (the youngest son) as the main perpetrator of the horrendous episode.
It questions what would have changed if someone had taken him to a psychotherapist. It sadly concludes that ‘only mad people need psychologists’ still lingers the lanes of our country.
Voyeurism
The series shines on voyeurism harnessed by the videotapes of family gatherings and diaries written by family members.
The makers draw parallels between the police solving the case and media influencing the attention with numerology connected to the pipes and grills of the house.
Although the facts of the case were public yet it caught us till the last page. It showcased how the life of people who were involved in the jigsaw puzzle impacted.
The journalists, police officers, medical experts and relatives cannot forget it and explain what happened and why.
The policeman who seemed to enjoy the narrative in the first shot admitted how the case impacted him.
The relatives still dream about it, and journalists cannot lose track of the incident and its investigation.
Fixation with the family secrets
The three episodic documentary explores the concept of keeping family secrets within the walls.
It explores how the three generations of the family knew about the rituals and followed the instructions till the end to achieve fruitful results.
Surprisingly, they did so for 11 years, and no one among their neighbours, friends, not even the eldest surviving brother who lived in Rajasthan, knew about it.
Questions documentary raised
Leena Yadav’s ‘House of Secrets- the Burari Deaths’ raised to adjust many doubts.
There was a multi-national company employee in the house, a Delhi University graduate, a Post-graduate in Sociology and school-going teenagers; did any one of them speak against the ritual?
How come Lalit influenced everyone in the family to follow the instructions of the diary for eleven long years?
If they had been prospering for eleven years, then why were they performing the ritual?
What would have happened if any relative, neighbour or friend had got the gist of the things happening behind the curtain; would that have saved the family members?
Did Lalit convince the family members to perform the ceremony because one family member was engaged, and he got scared that the person could reveal the family’s truth?
Why it became so famous
Nobody saw or heard anything like that before. Nobody could explain or justify it. Everyone was in awe and wanted to know the outlandish reason behind it.
Even the surviving brother from Rajasthan and sister from Panipat had no clue. People were curious to know and try to figure out the process of the incident.
