Cho Ramaswamy: Not Just A Film Comedian

Even in octogenarian phase of life he continued as the editor of ‘Tughlak’ and ensured the weekly never lost its sting. 

- C V Aravind

Cho Ramaswamy who passed away recently in Chennai at the age of 82 wore many hats during his lifetime. He was a legal eagle, playwright, actor, director, editor, social commentator, advisor and confidant of top politicians and also served a stint as a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha. But Cho who earned this sobriquet from a character in a play was no Jack of all trades and master of none.

He excelled in every single vocation that he took up and carved his niche in diverse spheres. After securing a degree in law, Cho, who hailed from a family of lawyers set about practicing law and served a conglomerate as a legal advisor. But he knew that his calling was not just law and having been a scriptwriter and playwright from his college days, plunged into theatre and wrote, directed and acted in twenty plays all of which were highly successful.

One of his plays Mohammed Bin Tughlak became a rage and Cho who was a bitter critic of the emergency, cocked a snook at authority by continuously staging the play in which he played Tughlak the main lead and took a number of digs at the despot and his maniacal acts all the time reminding the audience that every line in the play was written years back and if there was any relevance to the developments in the country it was for them to take it.