Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India under R.N.I 53640/91
Vol. XXVI No. 19, January 16-31, 2017
Cho remembered – 2
Thuglak who edited Thuglak
Last fortnight we remembered Cho the -theatre and film personality. This fortnight we recall Cho the journalist.
Cho Ramaswamy, the theatre personality launched Thuglak in 1970 together with S. Balasubramanian, Managing Director of Vikatan Publications and Editor, Ananda Vikatan. The title was after is famous satirical play Mohammed Bin Thuglak that was staged over 1000 times! SB mentored him and provided invaluable contacts with political leaders and, later handed the business to Cho.
An Emergency issue of Thuglak.
That was the time the DMK government under Karunanidhi was finding its feet and was dominated by Dravidian literature built around anti-religious, anti-Brahmin rhetoric. Cho took these head on. Cho was a consummate writer on -Maha-bharatha, Ramayana and other scriptures. With this knowledge, he could attempt to disabuse the poorly informed and often stupid attack of the Dravidian papers and magazines of that time.
Cho established good cont-acts in Delhi and invited the senior correspondent of Indian Express, K. Srinivasan, to write from the capital. KS, with his extensive political connections, introduced Cho to top political leaders. Cho’s sharp intellect, humour and satire impressed them and got him close to several political bigwigs. He -admired the rare qualities of value-based politics of Morarji Desai, Chandrasekar and other leaders of the Janata Party and later of the BJP.
Cho admired the intellect and brilliance of Jayalalithaa and presented a series of articles written by her in Thuglak. These provided rich insights into the strong personality of the future Chief Minister.
None of the senior political leaders, both in the Centre and state, were spared from Cho’s sharp criticism – Indira Gandhi, MGR, Karunanidhi, Jayalali-thaa… He strongly opposed the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi and expressed his dissent in several unique ways, including releasing the wrapper of the first issue of Thuglak after the imposition of emergency, blank and dark. He worked closely with Ramnath Goenka of Indian Express and S. Gurumurthy, the fire brand chartered accountant, to -oppose the Emergency.
Cho steered Thuglak away from the familiar addiction to film news even when well–established Tamil weeklies like Ananda Vikatan and Kalki modelled on Kumudam for their coverage of film news. Cho opted to focus on political thought and economy. One more -instance of his courage.
The first cover of Thuglak.
Cho maintained cordiality with all the three established weeklies: Ananda Vikatan’s editor S. Balasubramanian who helped Cho to launch Thuglak, Kalki’s Bharathan Publications printed and managed sales, and Kumudam Publications has been doing this in recent years!
Cho focused on costs and did not opt for gloss. The 40-page issue has the wrapper printed on the same newsprint as the inside pages. This meant sizeable economies in printing costs. He didn’t opt for colour for all pages. Thuglak did not go for advertisements from large consumer product manufacturers. It developed a loyal ad base by a few advertisers – educational institutions, realtors and small health services. At the peak of Cho’s close relations with AIADMK, one came across a large number of ministers and party bigwigs flooding birthday greetings for their supreme leader!
Thuglak has been keeping the cover price low, at just Rs.10. For a publication of near five decades standing, revenues have been modest. S. Guru-murthy, who has taken charge as editor, should focus on -revenues.
Thuglak is famous for its cartoons carrying pun and satire. Frequently the wrapper used to be adorned with dialogue by two donkeys with which he began the inaugural issue. Credit should also go to his training a good number of writers on his line of satire, like Sathya and Dhurvasar.
Cho wrote several features, especially on national and local politics. With his indifferent health in recent months these had reduced drastically. We thus miss brilliant pieces like Onnarai Pakka Naaledu, a hilarious, imaginary tabloid of 1.5 pages with juicy comments from political leaders. I remember the flourish of such features during election campaigns.
On the anniversary of the launch of Thuglak on Pongal day, Cho organised anniversary meetings. His hour-long talks were, most of the time, solo but later expanded with senior politicians. These attracted audiences in large numbers and was popular among its readers who were invited to present their views. Cho’s sparkling instant comments were memorable. In the one he organised with Narendra Modi in 2012, the latter made a brilliant presentation and Cho predicted the BJP capturing power in Delhi.
Well-wishers in business should help strengthen Thuglak and help it continue its pioneering work as a political satire non-pareil.
S. Viswanathan – (Courtesy: Industrial Economist.)
