The docu-series presents the evidence in a structured manner which isn’t necessarily chronological, but keeps the viewers hooked through four episodes
A fight breaks out in a residential area in Mumbai. The commotion is audible and quite bothersome to a crew who is filming a Netflix documentary nearby. A lawyer babu is getting ready to give his piece-to-camera. Then the fight escalates. “There is somebody screaming outside. Can we get somebody outside this window from our team?”, asks a crew member. “And now there’s a woman involved, so it’s not going to stop”, quips someone from the room — is the comment sexist or in jest? One cannot tell.
After all, the comment comes from Indrani Mukerjea, who interrupts her lawyer Ranjeet Sangle plenty of times during the course of filming, till he says “Indrani, chill, chill chill”. This is one of the lighter moments in an otherwise dark, spine-chilling documentary on the Sheena Bora murder case which rocked the country’s financial capital in 2015.
In the documentary, The Indrani Mukerjea Story: Buried Truth, Indrani comes across as extremely cautious and hyper-aware of the details she is sharing. At times, she is a control freak who wants to keep the details of the case concise and watertight. Her incessant need to control the narrative around her trial is bothersome for her defense lawyers who she interrupts/corrects as they are speaking to the camera. These interruptions are quite telling.
You get to pick a side
A similar scene plays out when Indrani interrupts Sana Raees Khan, her legal representative (who was also seen in the latest season of Bigg Boss), quite hilariously to correct details that she was sharing on camera. Eventually, Sangle’s patience runs out as he says “Indrani…please. I am in a flow”. Before the cameras roll, Indrani hunches over and whispers in Sangle’s ear something on the lines of “let that stay a bit vague…”.
These unintentionally funny, blooper-like camera outtakes during sound checks give the documentary a reality show vibe, and a unique flair where we get a much-needed break from the regular email conversations and the phone recordings — all of which, by the way, are important to understand the bizarre case in all its complexity.
Much of the Indrani Mukerjea-Sheena Bora murder case has been discussed, debated and analysed in the public domain. The Netflix docu-series offers an unprecedented access into the lives of the key people surrounding the case in an attempt to uncover the truth. Of course, the matter is sub judice so the docu-series must, by all means, stay neutral.
But to an average viewer, the matter is clear as daylight. As conflicting testimonies come out, and inconsistencies surface, it is not exactly difficult to pick a side. Like Vidhie Mukerjea says, “I have picked my mom’s side. I hope it is the right one”. This critic wouldn’t necessarily want to comment on which side seems to be more accurate based on testimonies (one can see the docu-series for themselves and make up their minds).
But one must mention that most participants — journalists, friends and ex-colleagues seemed to reach a consensus; in the words of Rajdeep Sardesai, “People will only be convinced Indrani is innocent when her defense is able to prick holes in the police version the size of a lunar crater. I don’t think Indrani Mukerjea or her defense has given a powerful counter-narrative to challenge or debunk the police version”. One cannot disagree with the analysis.
On display, the violent streak
The docu-series presents most of the evidence in a structured manner which isn’t necessarily chronological but keeps the viewers hooked through the four episodes. In the opening of each episode, we see Mumbai’s towering buildings and its beautiful skyline in an upside down fashion, perhaps to signify how twisted the world of the Mumbai elite really is.
The Netflix docu-series offers an unprecedented access into the lives of the key people surrounding the case in an attempt to uncover the truth.
There are some heartfelt moments in the documentary. The sadness in Mikhail Bora’s eyes when he reveals Indrani didn’t want to accept him as her kid, and Sheena’s disappointment (which she writes in her diary) when Indrani leaves her in Guwahati are quite moving.
The documentary has some juicy tidbits too — from Indrani creating a WhatsApp chat group titled “Justice for Sheena” (and later changing it to “Justice for Indrani” when she realized she is the ‘real victim’) to Vidhie being asked by her aunt to address Indrani as Lucy (short for Lucifer/Satan) — the entertaining revelations keep the momentum high.
At one point, Indrani looks into the camera rather creepily and says, “I would have slapped Shangon Das Gupta (Vidhi’s aunt) had she called me Lucy to my face. I would have socked her and taken her teeth out. I promise you that and I will do it now if she ever calls me that”. The violent streak in Indrani is palpable in this particular scene (and frankly, quite scary coming from her considering she is a murder suspect).
The mother as a flawed being
Amid the spiked drinks, phone recordings, incestuous relationships and leaked emails, one cannot help but wonder — what larger purpose does the documentary serve? Netflix India has expanded its true crime documentary slate starting with House of Secrets: Burari Deaths — a docu-series which made a strong case for taking mental health issues seriously rather than concocting stories around ghosts and tantriks. Bad Boy Billionaires revealed how some of the corrupt crony capitalists looted India’s poor and sought refuge overseas. What could be the intent behind a series about a high-profile murder which shook the Mumbai elite circles? Kaaveri Bamzai observes: “There is a certain expectation you have from the mother figure in India. The fact that someone who is a mother could kill her daughter is unimaginable”.
Perhaps, that is why the Indrani Mukerjea-Sheena Bora murder case continues to perplex even the best criminal lawyers and experts. The idea of a mother being a flawed human being, one that is capable of leaving her kids to pursue a career and being ambitious enough to sacrifice motherhood to take on the role of a media baron is unfathomable to most orthodox minds in the country.
The existence of a case such as this questions the very social and cultural fabric of a country that pedestalizes mother figures and wouldn’t dare see them as humans who are capable of having vices. “I may not have been the perfect mother, but I am a good mother,” says Indrani Mukerjea towards the end of the documentary.
“What a stupid question”, she quips when asked, “Did you kill your daughter Sheena?” Perhaps, we need to depedestalize the mother figure and for once, see them not as devis but equally flawed humans who can be just as vicious and ruthless as a man.
The Indrani Mukerjea Story: Buried Truth is streaming now on Netflix
