House of Secrets: The Burari Death Review: — EERIEE but effective
In House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths, the true crime documentary’s quest for certainty collides with a belief in fatalism and determinism. When you add willful or unintentional stupidity to the mix, you have a programme that lives up to its name.
The riveting Netflix mini-series revisits the July 1, 2018, killings of 11 members of a mixed family in Northeast Delhi. The Chundawat family — a widowed grandmother, her daughter, two sons, and their families — were discovered dead in what was subsequently determined to be a mass suicide. Ten members of the family were tied and gagged and hung in a circle arrangement from a netting that divided the ground and upper floors.
Tommy, the pet dog that was tied up on the balcony, was the sole survivor. An animal rescue worker who took custody of the defenseless animal claims that if Tommy had been set go, he might have averted the fatalities. The docu-series emphasizes the incident’s sheer ‘absurdity’ and shock value right from the trailer. The testimony of specialists, crime reporters, and law enforcement officials, who are the primary sources for the docu-series, reaffirms this point. Almost everyone who was interviewed said something like ‘this was unusual’ and ‘there was something strange. Even though most of us know the fundamental facts of the incident, Yadav, who clearly comes from a narrative storytelling background, uses all of these elements to build up that narrative and succeeds in capturing the viewer early on. Several media reports on the Burari killings provide an explanation that combines mental illness and superstition. Leena Yadav and Anubhav Chopra co-direct the series, which delves deeper into the rabbit hole. House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths reopens the case file with the aid of police detectives and media across three episodes and 135 minutes. Interviews with family members, acquaintances, and neighbor's paint a bleaker image, with repeated remarks implying that the tragedy defies straightforward explanations, if not an acceptable response.
Person after person exclaims, “They were such nice and helpful individuals.” They were an incredibly close-knit family. It’s a perplexing puzzle. This is a scenario I will never forget. The phrase “We never suspected anything” may reveal far more about the situation than anything else.
The finding of 11 journals kept over an 11-year span is one of the most unsettling moments. These hand-written papers include clues to how profound devotion may devolve into utter insanity, prompting a family to take drastic actions, helped by an uneven power dynamic.
Although Lalit looks to be the family’s de facto leader, portraying him as the leader of a tiny cult is challenging. The diaries indicate conflicts inside what appears to be a happy household. Lalit’s niece’s extravagant engagement only days before his death further casts doubt on the idea that he intended to keep his family together at any costs. Streaming platforms were designed for material like House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths, which let artists to stretch their creative boundaries and deliver tales in a variety of ways. Though the docu-series is a start in the right direction, its execution is hindered by its producers’ short-sightedness.
