The March article of Muses – the arts blog from BJPsych International is the first blog of the series. The blog is written by Dr Dami Ajayi, Specialty Doctor, Barnet Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust and Trainee/Blog Editor, BJPsych International.

Warning: Spoiler alert

In the summer of July 2018, the Bhatias, a family of eleven, ages ranging from 15 to 80, were found dead on the first floor of their home in the Burari area of North Delhi. 10 bodies—seven males, three females—hung from the terrace grill while the matriarch’s remains was found on the floor.

House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths, a three-part documentary film  by Leena Yadav and Anubhav Chopra streaming on Netflix, explores the aftermath of this tragic event, shedding light on how an ordinary upwardly-mobile middle-class Hindu family of three generations suffered such an extraordinary tragedy.

An intimate portrait of the family is drawn from film footages (including a wedding engagement party they hosted ten days before their deaths), interviews of relatives, neighbours, investigating police officers, forensic experts, mental health experts and journalists. The film captures the media’s fascination, engaging their loved ones in a debriefing of sort, to understand what went wrong with this seemingly normal family.

Through the evidence gathered, cult-like religious practices in the family were revealed. Their tragic deaths resulted from hanging. It seems they were conducting a ritual in their home, which involved creating symbolic representations of the hanging roots of a Banyan tree, a sacred tree mentioned in Hindu mythology.  The ritual was elaborately described in one of the diaries found by the police in their home. Lalit Chundawat, one of the members of the family, believed he had been visited by the spirit of his father, the head of household who had died in 2007. The instructions he was given were written in diaries, and the family secretly lived by them for 11 years.

The police ruled their deaths as a mass suicide motivated by the shared delusion that Lalit’s late father was communicating with the family through him. Lalit, a financial provider in the family, had previously suffered traumatic experiences (both physical and psychological) for which psychiatric help had been recommended but not pursued. Following a near death experience, he became functionally mute. A year later, he spontaneously regained his voice during the family’s daily Hanuman Chalisa (a Hindu devotional hymn) recital, one of the practices written in their diaries.

The spontaneous recovery of Lalit’s voice may have reinforced the family’s belief in “his father’s visits”. Under Lalit’s guidance, the family became more prosperous. Understandably, Lalit became the de facto head of family on the basis of his charisma, financial contributions and “psychic” abilities.

Folie a famille, a shared delusion within a family, is a potential retrospective diagnosis of the tragedy at the heart of this documentary. Lalit’s aforementioned features characterises the active individual who transmits an abnormal belief in a Folie a deux. In his case, he may have transmitted it across three generations of a family for eleven years, resulting in the most fatal outcome possible.

With the example of the Bhatia family, the dynamic ways psychopathology could interface with culture is beautifully portrayed and this is why this film should be watched by every psychiatrist.

Welcome to Muses – the arts blog from BJPsych International. This new blog aims to highlight international art and artists, particularly from low-and-middle-income countries, with a focus on mental health. We welcome submissions for consideration, such as, comments on artwork, visual arts, literature, drama, films, podcasts, and videos. Do have a look at the instructions for blog authors for details on how to submit. General enquiries about the blog: BJPInternational@rcpsych.ac.uk

Professor David Skuse, Editor-in-Chief, BJPsych International.