House of Secrets: Unsatisfying Answers

Netflix’s docu-series House of Secrets is going to give you nightmares through the bone-chilling exploration of the 2018 Delhi’s Family Tragedy where 11 members of the same family were found dead in their house. Helmed by renowned director Leena Yadav, it dwells deeper into the case, bringing out various ugly dimensions to the surface.

The documentary is divided into three parts, namely Bodies, Diaries, and Beyond 11. It uses archival footage, recreated sequences and interviews of the experts who were involved in the case directly or indirectly, which raises the bar. The series successfully dissects the incident to form a rhetoric—which is not only convincing enough, but also manages to instigate the circulation of various significant notions in our minds. Exceptional work has been done by the director, when it comes to the sequencing of the series: the chronological presentation makes you a part of the incident. As the series progresses, you will get immersed in the horror of the unimaginable tragedy.

The unsettling facts couples with spine chilling visuals and creepy background score, gradually plunging you to a state of curiosity and shock. Furthermore, the series eloquently builds up the narrative by blending various dimensions to the incident in the supervision of the experts. The most flabbergasting angle, among all, is the psychological one, where the director fearlessly digs up the minute patterns from the oversimplified yet sensational case. She doesn’t hesitate to portray how the shared psychosis dimension has been neglected pretty much, and still, no one is ready to absorb the hard fact related to mental health. The fun fact is, it makes a lot of sense. Besides, the element of sociological autopsy highlighted aptly by journalist Barkha Dutt indicates how alarmingly aloof we have become, where we are absolutely unaware of ourselves and the surroundings. As I had earlier mentioned, the series, besides being a horrifying magnum-opus, is more like an educational tool for everyone out there, as it dares to unfold the ugliest consequences of ignorance and unawareness.

You will get blown-away by the fact how the wide range of could haves have been explicated without any confluence. The most teasing factor would be the unanswered aspects --- the series tries its best to bang with the best possible inferences from the tangible and intangible clues, but they still are the unproven could haves. What happened, how it happened, was there any intrusion of supernatural entities (as portrayed by the series)? Was it a sad incident of cultic ritual? Or maybe one fine night, all of the family members including the teenagers and old woman, decided to hang themselves for fun? No one still knows because they took all the secrets with them leaving behind mysteries, contemplations and silent lessons.

It is a must watch, but do not watch if you are faint hearted, or cannot absorb disturbing content. The series is a masterpiece, hats off to the whole team!