Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
“Did you murder your daughter Sheena?”
“What a stupid question.”
This exchange is part of the trailer for Netflix’s documentary series “Indrani Mukerjea Story: Buried Truth” (directed by Uraaz Bahl and Shaana Levy), which attempts to unravel the Sheena Bora murder case. The case is still under trial, and no comprehensive conclusions have been reached by the courts yet. And unlike the title, there’s isn’t much ‘buried truth’ that comes to the surface in this four-part documentary series, in fact a disclaimer at the beginning mentions that the documentary doesn’t contain any event or revelation that’s not already in public domain. So for those who’ve follows the case on the new, there isn’t much on offer, except for a coherent look at the case, with sit-down personal interviews with some of the key players.
For the uninitiated, Indrani Mukerjea, the former CEO of the Indian media group INX Media, was arrested in August 2015 by the Mumbai police along with her husband Peter Mukerjea and driver Shyamvar Rai for allegedly murdering Sheena Bora. In Indrani’s circle, Sheena was known as her sister. However, when Sheena began dating Rahul Mukerjea, Peter’s son from a previous marriage, tensions arose. Indrani was allegedly unhappy with the relationship and upset that Sheena had started revealing her biggest secret to people —that Sheena was actually Indrani’s daughter, not her sister. Sheena disappeared in April 2012, and it took three years for the cops to figure out she might be dead.
The first episode/part of “Indrani Mukerjea Story: Buried Truth” begins with an audio recording of a phone call between Rahul Mukerjea and Peter. “What has happened to Sheena? What has happened to Sheena?” Rahul frantically asks his father, who explains that she “has gone off somewhere and doesn’t want to be in touch”. The first interviewee however is Vidhie Mukerjea, Indrani’s daughter, who was 17 at the time of her arrest and was legally adopted by her third husband Peter Mukerjea. Vidhie describes her mother and how the case affected her family. Her perspective is followed up by interviews with journalists who covered the story and cops associated with the case.
To maintain the momentum of this true-crime story, the creators place Indrani in the interviewee seat during the final few seconds of the first episode, ensuring viewers stay tuned to hear the tale directly from her. “I am ready, guys. Ask me whatever you need to,” Indrani says, looking straight at the camera, dressed in a crisp red-and-black saree, seemingly prepared to give her version of what happened. Episode two thus focuses on Indrani’s side of the story, where she makes some disturbing revelations about her early life (revelations – if you haven’t been following the case), going on to justify why she chose to leave her biological children, Sheena Bora and Mikhail Bora, with her parents in Guwahati.
From real photos, video footage, and audio recordings of phone calls, this Netflix documentary also incorporates dramatized recreations of certain events to maintain visual engagement, a common feature in many Netflix documentaries. It’s essentially akin to a well-produced version of the popular Indian series “Crime Patrol,” presented in documentary format, with gritty suspenseful music running throughout to keep the narration tense. However, despite the makers’ efforts to present all sides of the case, they were unable to secure four crucial interviews – those of Peter Mukerjea, Shyamvar Rai (the driver who spilled the beans), Sanjeev Khanna (Indrani’s ex-husband who was also arrested for abetting the murder), and Sheena’s partner Rahul Mukerjea. In the end, the creators do add a note that they tried to get everybody onboard, but failed to do so. But because of this failure, you can’t help but feel that this series is a lopsided.
“It’s a bizarre case,” one of the journalists says in their interview, and sure, it does seem extremely bizarre if you begin to dwell on it. Although the possibility that it was Indrani who killed her daughter does remain the easiest theory to go with, even though there are definitely signs of a cover-up and that it couldn’t have been as simple as a powerful woman bumping off her daughter because she was unhappy with her love affair. In his interview, Mikhail Bora is adamant that Indrani wanted to kill him and his sister, Sheena, while Vidhie is ready to give her mother the benefit of the doubt, ironically after penning a book called “Devil’s Daughter” in 2021. As a result, the series is dominated by opinions and perspectives rather than factual evidence and concrete facts.
The last episode wraps up the documentary with the legal aspects of the case, including a rapid summary of what happened during the court proceedings, along with an interview of Indrani’s defense lawyer, Ranjit Sangle. For those who don’t know much about the case, “Indrani Mukerjea Story: Buried Truth” can be a pretty riveting watch. However, you may be left feeling that it leaves you with a lot more unanswered questions.
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