The fifth episode of Aakhri Sach ended with Anya coming across many revelations as the team read the registers to understand what was happening in the family. Bhuvan seems to have suggested ‘Akshay Sadhana,’ a ritual ceremony for the betterment of the family. This will probably help Anya and the investigation team to tie up the loose ends and move toward understanding what led to the deaths of the eleven members of the family.
Spoilers Ahead
Prologue
Aakhri Sach finale begins with the Rajawat family almost meeting with a car accident, which we assume was on their way back from some holiday. The family barely survives the ordeal when Bhuvan proclaims that his father is with them and that he will make sure everyone remains unharmed. By this point, the family had grown used to Bhuvan bringing up his father in every conversation. The family was unfamiliar with the mental health issues that were plaguing Bhuvan. They were only willing to believe that somehow the late patriarch was guiding them towards something that would benefit the family in the long run. We are not sure if the true story involved these incidents. The makers took some cinematic liberty to expand on Bhuvan’s state of mind.
What did the initial psychological autopsy reveal?
The psychiatrist assigned to the investigation team reveals that Bhuvan had almost reached the psychosis stage. He believed he was the father figure by taking control of the family. Bhuvan was traumatized, and the pain festered into thoughts, ideas, and imagery that did not exist. The family’s religious background made them believe every word that Bhuvan was uttering. Zero awareness regarding the issue at hand reveals that Bhuvan had planned plenty of things well in advance. It implies that he was planning this for the betterment of the family, which was instructed by Bhuvan in his father’s voice. The handwriting analysis also proved the existence of Anshika and Jawahar Singh’s writing in the register. The latter could be the result of psychosis. We only wonder whether if Bhuvan was given the right treatment, the rest of the family could have been saved.
Were things changing in the Rajawat family?
The Rajawat family was seeing good things happening to all the members. Anshika’s marriage was fixed to Aman, and Bhuvan’s elder brother, Aadesh, got a loan to expand their business. It seemed as if the family was on the right path. Since they belonged to a middle-class family setup, small victories such as these made a lot of difference. Anshika getting married is a big deal for the family. Since their business is about to grow, they can expect a good amount of profit to come their way, which will improve their standard of living. But Bhuvan claimed that despite all the good things that happened, their father was not happy.
Bhuvan also suggests that the family conduct ‘Akshay Sadhana’, a ritualistic ceremony that will benefit the family, and they will be able to see the father one last time before his soul departs peacefully. It is implied that the father is probably not at peace now. If the family members wholeheartedly immerse themselves in this ceremony, it will allow the father to move to the other side painlessly.
Bhuvan refers to the ritualistic paper he came across on his ancestral property. Since he is the decision-maker of the house, he starts making plans about how to conduct this ceremony, which should be around a banyan tree. Since their home already has a banyan tree, the location was never an issue. Bhuvan initially claims all of them have to only place the noose around the neck and chant prayers continuously. The kids were not allowed to take part in it, but they voluntarily got in for the sake of Bhuvan.
The familial bonding had reached a point where all of them were emulating Bhuvan. Sadly, none of them could solve the problem of this cult-like commune that was forming inside the house, with Bhuvan being the spiritual leader and claiming to take them towards the right path that would give them nothing but happiness. No one outside of the family was aware of the internal and spiritual changes that were happening inside the house.
Why did the investigation team reach Teetri Village?
The register Anya and her team were reading abruptly ends when Bhuvan, in the end, claims that all the planets, for the first time in years, have aligned for the ‘Akshay Sadhana’. The abrupt ending would mean the police would never know what made the family take that final extreme step. They guess the hangings were a part of the ritual, but they want to know more about the night of the murder. Anya comes across a bus ticket to Teetri. The team is expecting some revelations to happen in that spot. It is not clear why the team would head to this village because there would be no one who could help them understand the Rajawat family’s dynamics.
The investigation team, especially Anya, wants to get to the depths of the psychology of Bhuvan and the family. A clear-cut conclusion will also give the team closure. If the murderer died with the family, the police would have no case to build on. They will have to close this one as a case of ritualistic murder or suicide.
Who killed the Rajawat family?
The team reaches Bhuvan’s ancestral home to come across the paper that mentioned verses that will help the family through the ‘Akshay Sadhana.’ This was the same paper that Bhuvan referred to. Anya shares the Sanskrit verses with her ex-boyfriend to understand the meaning of the verses, which probably instigated the family to take such a drastic step. Jairaj explains that the verses meant that the family’s strength only lies in unity, and they all need to fly together.
Anya can connect the dots and believe that suicide was indeed a part of the ritual. She comes across another banyan tree in the ancestral mansion and glances at the branches that fall vertically. She realizes that the Sanskrit verses in the paper meant that all of them should remain vertically hanging like the branches.
The complexity of the ritual and the blind faith required will shock everyone who finally understands why this sadhana was conducted. It is distressing to go through the entire sequence of scenes where Bhuvan and his family, including the elderly mother, prepare for the ritual. They place the noose around their necks, a bowl of water, and chant mantras. Bhuvan notices no change in the color of the water after a while, and his father also does not appear.
Bhuvan, at this point, was deep into psychosis, which made him believe everything that came into his mind in the voice of his father. We believe there was nothing that could have stopped Bhuvan from carrying out this ritual. If he failed, Bhuvan most likely would have had a mental breakdown that he wouldn’t have been able to recover from. His family would also look at him as a failure. He desperately wanted this ritual to work so that his family would remain happy. His father’s voice somehow persuades him to convince his family to go ahead with ‘Akshay Sadhana’.
Bhuvan ties all the stools with a rope and reveals that his father wants all of them to hang like the vertical branches of the banyan tree. He pulls the rope, which kills all of them instantly. Since Bhuvan walked all of them through this process, he took it upon himself to decide their fate and kill himself as well. The man genuinely believes they will survive the ceremonial rite in the hope of seeing their father one last time. Bhuvan’s last image was the color of the water changing and his father in front of the house looking deep into his eyes. This was most likely his hallucination that manifested into a visual he wanted to see, but all of this came at the ultimate cost.
Epilogue
Aakhri Sach ends with the investigation team coming together at the Rajawats’ residence and concluding that it was Bhuvan who was the perpetrator of the crime. The psychological autopsy also concluded that Bhuvan was a victim of two back-to-back traumas that led to severe psychosis. Nobody in the family could understand the depth of his deteriorating mental health. The investigating police officers move on.
Unfortunately for Aman, he will have to live with the fact that Anshika didn’t mention or share any of this with him. His closure was the saddest one. Maybe he would have been able to help Anshika, but fate had other plans. The show, in a heavy-handed way, implies that mental health should not be underestimated at any cost. It needs to be treated like any other ailment that a human body incurs. Anya finally understood the repercussions of neglecting her disturbed state of mind. She makes an appointment with a psychiatrist hired by the police force to understand her childhood trauma that has been resurfacing. Anya will want to deal with it before it starts troubling her future.
