Cho Ramaswamy, one of the most astute political commentators of our times, passed away two days after the demise of his close friend, former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. He was also the founder and Editor of the popular Tamil magazine “Thughlak.”
Known as a fearless political commentator and a playwright, Cho Ramaswamy shot into the national limelight when he wrote and presented a controversial play titled “Thughlak” which was on the Emergency and he actually mocked Prime Minister Indira Gandhi through his play. Later, it was made into a Tamil movie and the central character was played by actress Manorama.
There are endless “Cho” stories that every Tamilian can share because Cho’s quotes, dialogues and tales are endless and have touched their daily lives.
It is said that once a group of people threw a rotten egg at him. Being a Brahmin, they expected him to be provoked by this act. He surprised everyone once again with his amazing sense of humor, saying, “Aiyya, why throw raw eggs at me when you can make me an omelette?” The entire crowd burst into laughter.
Another popular story about Cho Ramaswamy that did the rounds in Tamil Nadu is that he made a stamp of a man name Saxena who reportedly died alongwith Sanjay Gandhi in the plane crash. Cho Ramaswamy’s stamp looked like such an original that even the postal authorities were unable to figure out that it was not a real stamp!
Cho Ramaswamy’s plays were more popular than his movies and the artists in his drama troupe were some of the finest from the film industry, ready to take any role that he would offer them and not neccesarily for money.
To be chosen to act in a play written and directed by Cho Ramaswamy was considered to be a “milestone” accomplished. Also, what drove even eminent actors and actresses like Ragini to act in Cho’s plays was their passion for drama and political satire. In fact, most of these eminent artists used to leave his home in tears because he was a very tough task master. He would extract the best performance from every artist, make them stretch their “artistic muscles” to a point of pain so that they experienced the actual characters they were portraying.
Cho Ramaswamy was probably the only critical political commentator that Jayalalithaa respected. His demise, barely two days after Jayalalithaa’s, has evoked a melancholy gloom in Tamil Nadu. And unlike how things work in politics, the world of art and theater do not leave a tradition of nominating successors or heirs, you have to earn that respect and recognition the hard way.
In that sense, with Cho Ramaswamy’s demise, an era of political satire has come to an end.
