What happens when a woman who dreams of becoming famous by getting kidnapped actually gets kidnapped? You probably have a husband back home who’s least bothered to get her back! How the win-win situation turns into a nightmare for both the kidnappers and the woman is what Paritosh Painter and his team played out in the Ashvin Gidvani production Get Rid of My Wife, staged at Kala Mandir as part of Emami Cultural Fiesta in association with t2.
Written and directed by Painter, Get Rid of My Wife is a laugh riot where three friends –– Shree, Adi and Manav — are forced by a goon to kidnap an industrialist’s wife.
Shree is blind, Adi is deaf and Manav is mute. They stay together and are the perfect foil for each other’s disabilities. They have a list of creditors who have hired a goon called Mario to extract money from the trio. Mario, in turn, threatens them with dire consequences if they don’t agree to the abduction plan.
The twist in the tale comes in the form of the married couple. While the wife seems too happy to be kidnapped, the husband is too happy to finally get rid of his wife. After refusing to pay the ransom, he offers double the amount to have her killed!
Wrapped in a comedy, the play gave a message loud and clear: Love and friendship will always triumph over dishonesty and cunning tricks.
Get Rid of My Wife is entertaining. The performances were quite good and we had a good laugh.
— Renu Roy, theatre personality
The play was nice and hilarious. I liked Jayesh Thakkar and Paritosh Painter’s performances. They 
were fabulous and the don was also pretty good.
— Bhaswati Dey, homemaker
The play was very light and entertaining, full of good humour. Overall it was a good experience.
— Shikha Metharamani, director, The Myx
It was a very interesting play. More a laughathon with a lot of slapstick comedy. We enjoyed it thoroughly.
Suchandra Bhutoria, singer
The play was very nice. The second half was more fun with the women coming in.
— Saba Ali Firoz, designer and make-up artist
There’s a lot of stress in the hustle and bustle of life. So we chose this play that gives you comic relief at the end of the day, so you can sit back and just enjoy.— Priti Sureka, director, Emami Ltd.
Sibendu Das
Pictures: Rashbehari Das
