Cho Ramaswamy

Cho Ramaswamy was born on October 5, 1934 in Mylapore, Madras, British India as Srinivasa Iyer Ramaswamy.

Cho's plays are highly dialogue-based and related to either politics or socio-economic issues. The formation of Viveka Fine Arts Club was in 1954 and it completed 50 years in 2004 and the theatre halls are packed with audiences from all social classes even till 2014. The first play was written in 1954 and the actors are the same who acted in it but they still have relevance to present Tamil society. Since then, the club has staged 5160 shows for record till 2004. Incidentally, the actors are the same who acted in Cho's first play in 1954 when they were students in Vivekananda College, Chennai. Like Saathiram Sonnathillai (The Scriptures did not say this) is about a learned Brahmin, wise in all respects except one - his caste prejudice.

His drama troupe artistes remained family for him. Those who started acting with him 1963-64 continued to act with him till 2012 on stage in theaters. Actor Neelu was the closest to Cho. Peeli Sivam was also part of his troupe.

He was an actor and writer, known for Mohammed-Bin-Tughlaq (1971), Mr Sampath (1972) and Yarrukkum Vetkam Illai (1975). He was married to Soundara Ramaswamy.

Yarukkum Vekkammillai (No One has any shame) is about a rich industrialist's family, which is in a tangle when the younger son, a lawyer, brings home a prostitute, his first case. It turns out that the elder son is the man who drove the woman to prostitution. The main character is a Muslim family friend who defends the prostitute and exposes the elder son. The play criticizes society for creating prostitutes and then condemning its own creation.This play was made into movie in 1975 and was directed by Cho and he put Jayalalitha as lead female heroine and Muthurman was casted as the hero. Cho played the Muslim friend in the film.

Cho has been the main comedian in the films with Muthuraman as lead hero like Manam Oru Kurangu, Malligai Poo, Suryakanthi, Radha, Ponnunjal, Pettha Manam Pitthu, Shanmuga Priya, Perum Puzhalum, Therottam, Unmaiye Un Vilai Enna, Vazhthungal, Annapoorni. Among these Unmaiye Un Vilai Enna was directed by Cho himself in 1976.

As Narada Gana Sabha hosts a mid-year retrospective of his plays, Cho finds a younger generation of theatre goers excited by what he wrote years ago. "They laugh or applaud at just those moments that audiences in the past did." Many find the socio-political satire more relevant now than when the plays were written. For the Viveka Arts amateur theatre company to which he belongs, founded by brother Rajagopal (Ambi), this is a matter for jubilation in its golden jubilee year. Except for a break in the 1990s, they have been regular performers.

Many scenes in Hindi films have been directly borrowed and plagiarized from what Cho performed in his films. The sequence in Adimai Penn where Cho exchanges the various glasses of juices kept while narrating a story to R.S.Manohar, by which the villains poisonous glass gets mixed up, was later on borrowed in Andaz Apna Apna in 1994 where Aamir Khan foils plan of the villains. Similarly the scene in Thenmazhi where Cho acts as a doctor to look after a fraud patient played by Nagesh and brings carpenter's tools to operate on patient, was again copied in Andaz Apna Apna in 1994.

Legal training enables Cho to cut to the root of any issue, grasp constitutional issues and state his case clearly. And about theatre he said in interview in 1995 "It helped me overcome stage fright, sharpened my writing skills and gave me friends who are still with me." Will his plays endure? "Let me compare myself with the best. How many people realised that Kalidasa or Shakespeare wrote classics when they were alive? My last play "Nermai Urangum Neram," written 23 years ago, or "Mohammad bin Thuglak" (1968), is received now just as it was on day one. That's enough for me.".

Jayalalitha once said about Cho in 2004 - "Cho has a terrific memory power. He remembers what Karunanidhi said in 1970 as well. He does not change sides like certain politicians do.He doesn't suffer from selective amnesia.He talks sense and there is logic in everything he says. No wonder people like Karunanidhi, Veeramani, Ramdoss etc feel uncomfortable with him.".

The author of 23 plays remembered, in an interview in 2008; that he knew nothing about drama until he saw a YGP production. The next day he rehashed an old story for Viveka Arts, graduating from farce to full length plays. "No idealistic goals, don't think drama is a form of entertainment." Cho's acting career in drama began with Devan's "Kalyani" and Koothabiran's "Thenmozhiyal," continued with key roles in his own plays, and a long innings as comedian in Tamil cinema.

Cho S Ramaswamy has a son R. Sriram who married L Chitra in December 2013. The wedding took place at the farmhouse of Cho in Palavakkkam.Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa sent her greetings, besides a gift, to the newlywed. Film producer AVM Saravanan, film director K Balachander, actors Sivakumar, Surya, Karthi, Ramya Krishnan and lyricist Vairamuthu were present for the wedding.