Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India under R.N.I 53640/91

Vol. XXVI No. 18, January 1-15, 2017

Cho Ramaswamy remembered

by V. Mohan Raman

From laugh-filled plays to laugh-rich political punditry

How do you classify anadvocate, a writer with a huge repertoire ranging from
comic sketches to explanations of the Bhagavad Gita, a magazine publisher/editor, a dramatist, a film actor, a political satirist, a politician, king-maker (at least king-breaker)? Cho lived his life with just one single principle – Call a spade a spade and a Club or a Diamond if it will get a laugh.

CHENNAI, 01/10/2007: Cho. Ramasamy, Editor of Thuglak at a function in Chennai on October 01, 2007. Photo: S.S. Kumar

CHENNAI, 01/10/2007: Cho. Ramasamy, Editor of Thuglak at a function in Chennai on October 01, 2007.
Photo: S.S. Kumar

His given name Ramaswamy became Cho thus. As a child, he was a puny, weak boy. The elders often called him ‘Chozha Brahmmahaththi’. This is in allusion to the mythological story of how an evil spirit possessed a Chola king and he became emaciated. This phrase was shortened to Cho. Years later in 1957, when Koothapiran wrote the play Thenmozhiyal, Cho who wanted a part in it asked the author to create a role for him. The author refused and Cho threatened that he would walk into every scene as the play went on. Seeing the mad gleam in Cho’s eyes, the writer relented. This character had no name given by the author, so Cho took his own “pet” name and thus was born the character Mr. Cho, narrates Neelu, one of Cho’s colleagues and friends.

Contrary to popular belief, Cho was not one of the foun-ders of the drama troupe that was associated with him, Viveka Fine Arts. In the early 1950s, Cho’s brother Ambi (Raja-gopal), Neelu, V.R. Srini-vasan, D. Narayanaswamy and a few other students of Viveka-nanda College formed the Fine Arts Society of Vivekananda College. They used to participate in inter-collegiate competitions. They staged a few skits written by Cho – for instance, Gorakolai (Brutal Murder) and Dr. Veshadari. After they all passed out of college they decided to pursue this passion for dramatics and thus was born Viveka Fine Arts Club. For a brief period it was known as Young Men’s Fine Arts. In 1956 they staged writer Devan’s play, Kalyani. Cho, who was associated with Y.G. Parthasa-rathy’s drama troupe United Amateur Artists as a stage helper, wanted to act in the play. In typical Cho style he threatened, cajoled and emotionally blackmailed his way into the play. He was given a small role as a CID Inspector. Surprisingly the role became a big hit with the audience. Yet, Cho did not become a regular with the troupe. The next play was Thenmozhiyal where he played the character Mr. Cho.

While they were rehearsing a second play by Koothapiran called Allikulam Valli, they were dumped by the author who decided to form his own drama troupe. To prove that Thenmo-zhi-yal was not a flash in the pan, they had to come up with another play and fast. That is when Cho walked in with his script, If I get it (1958). The play broke records for amateur drama troupes and recorded 25 performances in the first 11 months. With this, Cho was fully into Viveka Fine Arts. He then wrote a series of plays mainly with Wodehousian plots. That is to say, a wafer thin storyline but every character brilliantly etched and every scene dripping with humorous situations. Cho was a very big fan of Wodehouse and his ‘Wodehousian’ plays were Don’t tell anybody (1960), Why Not? (1960), Wait and See (1961), What For? (1962). When he was criticised for the English titles, he promised the audience that his next play would not have an English title. He then wrote Quo Vadis? (1963). The noted Director K. Balachander directed Why Not? and What For? Finding that he could not tame this wild bunch and force them to his level of perfection, Balachander then bid adieu. Cho then took over the mantle of direction as well.

thuglak

This was followed by the controversial Sambhavaami Yuge Yuge. English titles followed by Latin and now Sanskrit – inimitably Cho. This play was about corruption in a government office. This was refused staging permision by the Police and Cho went to Court and the Government had to give in. The play was released and went on to record collections. In this play Cho plays a traditionally clad ‘maami’. Cho as a dramatist and a satirist was now well established and he was a ‘Star’. Madras by Night, Mind is a Monkey (a version of Pygma-lion), Is God Dead? and Saraswa-thiyin Sabatham were followed by Mohammed Bin Thuglak (1968). This was an out and out political satire, attracting enormous controversy. In some places when the politically opposed crowd threw eggs at them, Cho would announce that he would send a basket around and that rather than waste the eggs people should deposit the eggs in the basket so that they could be made into omelettes later for the group to have.

In 1963 Cho made his debut in films by reprising his stage role in the UAA play Petraal-thaan Pillaya? The role was that of a mechanic who spoke ‘Madras Bashai’. Sivaji Ganesan proposed to the Director A. Bhim Singh to retain the stage actor in the film version too. Cho was never the pushy actor who went after roles. Neelu says Cho disliked simply “waiting” which was a part and parcel of film acting. Ever so often he would walk on to the set and ask the Director, “When can I go?”. He also found it interfering with his stage career.

Cho not only acted in several films but wrote the screenplay and directed many as well. The film Bommalattam with the immortal song Vaa Vadhyare voottanda was one of those for which he wrote the screenplay. Thaannilavu, Neelagiri Express, Ayiram Poi, Ninaivil nindraval were some of the others. After the phenomenal success of his Thuglak, Cho decided to make it into a film. Like the play, it too ran into rough political waters but he managed to swim out of it all. This film was not just written and acted by him but was also directed by him. He also directed a few other films, like Mr. Sampath, Nermai Urangumneram, Yaarukkum Vetkam Illai and Sambhosiva-sambho.

He successfully managed to carve a niche for himself and worked with all the top stars. He is remembered for his roles with MGR in the films Adimai Penn, Oli vilakku, Neerum Neruppum and En Annan. With Sivaji it was Thanga padhakkam, Galatta Kalyanam and Gaura-vam. He did a number of films with Jaishankar and Sivakumar too. In the 1980s and 90s he acted in films with then popular heroes like Kamal Haasan and Rajnikanth.

After the play Thuglak, he ventured into Journalism and from thereon became a political pundit. His frank and forthright writing earned him the sobriquet ‘Permanent Opposition’. His battle with the censorship during the Emergency and with Periyar are examples of a Journalist’s integrity.

Cho continued writing and staging plays till 1982. But with Nermai Urangum Neram (The Bedtime for Integrity). He then declared that many of his actors had aged and had other commitments and therefore it was time to hang up their dramatic boots. In 2004, they did get back for a week of his plays to mark the Golden Jubilee of Viveka Fine Arts. He was a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha from 1999 to 2005.

The Ibn Bathutha to his Thuglak – Burma Shankar says – I often wonder, if Cho had just stuck to one thing, to what heights he would have risen in that field? But then, that was not Cho. There won’t be another one.

Please follow and like us:
Pin Share

Comments

  1. shivaram says:

    i thought the Ibn bathutha character was played by RMS [sundaram]?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Stay Updated