More than a decade ago, Cho S Ramaswamy, a theatre personality, political commentator and Editor of Tamil magazine Thuglak , ran a farewell series of some of his plays. The most popular, undoubtedly, was Muhammad Bin Tughluq, a parody of India’s political world then, in an eponymous play featuring the bungling king and his companion Ibn Batuta.
A history professor on a research tour with his students stumbles upon a coffin with Tughluq and Batuta inside. What follows is a rip-roaring satire on the socio-political situation in the country.
During the break, Cho, who played the role of Tughluq, said he had first written the play in 1967 and made some minor changes in 1969. And, if the play — it was staged to a full house at the now demolished Kalaivanar Arangam in Chennai — was still relevant, Cho said it was not because of the brilliance of the script or the skill of the director, but because of “our politicians”!
The full-time satirist and journalist and part-time playwright and actor passed away early on Wednesday. Cho (82) was qualified in law and a legal adviser to the TTK group for a while, at the request of his late friend TT Vasu. Once asked why he did not pursue a career in law, Cho explained that Vasu had come to him seeking advice on a problem and he had asked the industrialist if he should consult a lawyer and get back to him! That firmly shut the law chapter.
Apart from plays, Cho has acted in films, sharing screen space with actors such as MG Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganesan, Kamal Hassan and Rajnikanth.
Cho was best when he was targeting politicians of all hues. But he also had a personal relationship with almost all of them, as evident from the tributes paid by politicians who visited his house.
DMK President and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi was one such target; but in the same breath Cho would shower praise on Karunanidhi for his tireless work.
Cho considered himself a staunch nationalist, a patriot, had strong beliefs on Hinduism and its rich traditions. But this did not prevent him from having good personal equations with those who opposed his views.
For instance, K Veeramani, leader of the Dravidar Kazhagam and a self-confessed atheist, in his tributes to Cho, said he was a unique journalist with independent views.
Veeramani said he and Cho had completely opposing views, but “I don’t think I will see a person like him again”.
Cho was openly against the Sri Lankan Tamil militants, especially the LTTE, at a time when the ethnic crisis in the island nation was at its peak and almost all political parties in Tamil Nadu played up the Sri Lankan Tamils’ issue.
For that reason, he was a vocal supporter of the late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. Yet, this did not prevent him from criticising Jayalalithaa for the corruption during her first tenure as Chief Minister (1991-96).
Cho was considered as one of the persons Jayalalithaa could turn to for counsel; Cho would tell her bluntly what he thought of an issue, regardless of Jayalalithaa’s likes and dislikes.
Another of Cho’s trademark was his self-deprecatory humour. He would quite often say he was incapable of doing anything serious or good. So, the next best thing for him to do, he would say, was to poke fun at people who did these things.
At the 80th birthday function of Tamil film director K Balachandar, when all others on the stage spoke of the veteran’s Midas touch, Cho brought the house down when he said that even Balachandar could not make him (Cho) an actor.
The annual day celebration of Thuglak was a big event every year. It would be held on January 14, the day on which Cho founded the magazine in the early 1970s, and would draw a large number of committed readers of the magazine.
It was at one such event in 2008 that Cho introduced Narendra Modi, then Gujarat Chief Minister, to the vast gathering, as the “Merchant of Death”, a take on how Congress leader Sonia Gandhi had described Modi before the Assembly elections in Gujarat. Cho said: “I now invite to address you the Merchant of Death — for terrorism, for corruption, to nepotism, to officials’ inefficiency, to bureaucratic negligence, to poverty and negligence. The merchant of death to darkness and despair will now address you...”
Tweeting his tributes, Modi said Cho was a multi-dimensional personality, a towering intellectual, a great nationalist and fearless voice who was respected and admired. “Above all, Cho Ramaswamy was a dear friend. I have been to his annual readers meeting which was an unprecedented editor-reader interface,” Modi tweeted.