House Of Secrets: The Burari Deaths review – Unsettling account of the mysterious end of 11 members of a Delhi family

Early on 1 July 2018, the residents of Sant Nagar, Burari, an overcrowded neighbourhood of North Delhi, made an alarming discovery. Three generations of the Chundawat family, also known as the Bhatias, were found bound and hanging in their home.

The three-part Netflix documentary series House Of Secrets: The Burari Deaths (2021), directed by Leena Yadav and Anubhav Chopra, is an insightful but hard watch about the untold secrets of the family that led to this horrifying tragedy.

The first episode, which features the inputs of the neighbours, police officers, crime branch officers and other family members, takes us through what was discovered that day, with each salacious detail unearthed throwing the media into a frenzy.

The incident quickly dominated the news. But as more details emerged, the nature of the case was such that even seasoned crime reporters were shaken by the discoveries.

Eleven members of the family, ranging in age from 15 to 80, were found hanging, blindfolded with their hands bound and cotton in their ears. The elderly matriarch, Naryani Devi, was the only one found in another room. The family dog Tommy was the sole voiceless survivor.

Yadav and her team travel to the families’ hometowns in Dhar and Narayangarh to speak with the perplexed, grieving families of Savita and Tina, the two daughters-in-law. The two surviving siblings, not residing in the family’s Delhi home, failed to come to terms with the angle of the mass suicides.

The Chundawats’ neighbours, employees and friends have nothing but good things to say about the tightly knit family. In fact, they had been celebrating the upcoming engagement of 33-year-old Priyanka. But as episodes two and three reveal, this case was more complicated than was reported, with evidence of a havan (ritual pyre) also present in the house.

The series showcases to viewers the inner workings of the family thanks to the extensive diaries they had kept since 2007. Looking at the youngest son, 47-year-old Lalit, who became de-facto head of the family after his father Bhopal Singh’s death, House Of Secrets delves into the far-reaching influence of the late patriarch.

The series, which includes those assigned to and covering the case at the time, along with psychologists and psychiatrists, looks at the difficult questions about mental health that we collectively ignore in society, wanting them to remain inside the family.

Produced by Yogendra Mogre and Katherine Leblond, House Of Secrets is a well-made account that tries to make sense of what happened in the recent past. The three episodes feature a non-intrusive but compelling score composed and produced by AR Rahman and Qutub-e-Kripa. The series has been shot by Aseem Bajaj, Anshuman Singh Thakur and Anirban Chaterjee.

The series uses CCTV and news footage and home videos stitched together by Zach Kashkett, Namrata Rao and M'daya Meliani to give a sense of the furore that surrounded the case and the thirst for facts. There are also recreations and interviews with those closely involved with the case at the time to give us a better understanding of the events.

Covering all angles, the series makes one wonder whether the eerie occurrence was really a mass suicide or a series of murders or just one giant tragedy that has left all those associated with the case scratching their heads. Like many documentaries, there are answers, yes, but it also raises many questions whose answers can only be proffered by those who are no more.

House Of Secrets: The Burari Deaths is being streamed on Netflix.