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Playing with lives
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Dead bodies, kidnappings, high profile stars... Riti's Murder Games pack in punch and drama while being team-building exercises
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WHODUNNIT Participants in full costume play one of Riti's Murder Games PHOTO: MURALI KUMAR K.
Casa del Sol, the pleasing airy restaurant on Residency Road, was the site of a devious and complex murder which unfolded late one lazy afternoon. Those complicit in it are an unlikely but colourful bunch including a rising TV soap star, a politician and his wife, an industrialist, a social worker, a dancer and a doctor. On their way to a far-off place, their bus is waylaid by a wicked bandit who dies after a mysterious gunshot soon after the kidnapping. The police attempt to solve the mystery but not before all those present are suspected and their motives put under close scrutiny.
As Tara, the glamorous TV soap star with big '60s shades and a little lilac hat, I am in the jungle hunting for spots to shoot the new film I had been offered a role in.
But even during the kidnapping and the bandit's death, I am completely unafraid. I am, after all, playing a game. Riti's Murder Games, which is marketed to corporate companies as part of HR strategies to determine leadership abilities, gauge bargaining skills and other management functions through one of three or four devised games.
The game at Casa del Sol was played exclusively by a sporting media group, aided by professional theatre actors who played cops and robbers. One actor is the bandit, the others are cops and one is the politician. Upon entering the venue, one is greeted by menacing signs of what is about to unfold: a blood-stained knife and trophy heads proudly on display on the makeshift stage. Each participant is handed a package which outlines who their character is, how they should react to the kidnapping and given further clues as the game progresses.
Each actor is linked somehow or the other to at least one other player in the game and given additional props to help them get into the mood; hence me donning large shades and little hat. It's just like theatre, except to add to the fun there's no script so the game takes unexpected twists and turns and requires you to use the paper money you're given at the beginning of the game to test your bargaining powers.
Watching this high-voltage drama unfold are theatre person Mahesh Dattani and management guru Harish Bijoor. Riti's Murder Games, begun by journalist Riti, markets itself as India's first murder services company. It was a fallout, says Riti, of the games she played with her nine-year-old daughter who nursed ambitions of becoming a detective. "I would make up games to play with her and soon decided to get into it full-time, trying it out on a group of friends first."
Symphony is one of the companies which has been using these murder games for the last five months. Vijayanand Krishnan, Head of Learning and Development for the company, says: "These games are very effective in bringing everyone together. They create a bonding which is important since this is the first programme for any fresh recruit."
Riti's Murder Games are being run by her with the help of her friend Lavanya Shetty. They can be contacted on 98800-26428.
Versatile games
The games can be used as:
Pre-conference ice-breakers or post conference parties
Team-building exercises
Company inductions
They can be modified for different purposes as well, mixing as they do hard-core fun with human resources experiments. An ideal group size is about 25 and the games typically last one-and-a-half hours.
HEMANGINI GUPTA
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