Indian Actor, Journalist, Comedian, lawyer, Editor, Playwright, movie Director, dialogue writer and Political lampooner.
Birth
Cho Ramaswamy was born to R.Srinivasa Iyer and Rajammal on 5th October 1934 in Mylapore in Chennai.
Personal Life
He married Soundara. They had two children Sriram Ramaswamy and Sindhuja. Then the famous actress Ramya Krishnan is his niece.
Education
Cho Ramaswamy completed his schoolings in the P.S.Higher Secondary School in Chennai.
Life Career
Cho Ramaswamy was debut as a comedian in the film Paar Magale Paar in 1963. He acted in 180 Tamil films from 1963 to 2005. Then 5 films came under his direction. He had been the story writer and screenplay writer for the movies like Ninaivil Nindraval, Thenmazhai, Aayiram Poi, Bommalattam and Panam Paththum Seyyum. All of these movies were box-office hits.
He had written and directed nearly 20 plays and 10 books. Cho Ramaswamy had written and acted 27 TV serials. He got the name Cho from the role he played in the Tamil play “Thenmozhiyal” written by Bhageerathan.
Political Career
Cho Ramaswamy was the founder of the Tamil magazine, Thuglak. He is also the editor of that magazine. He had been fearless in criticizing the Government Policy or any Party. Then he got a nomination to the Rajya Sabha from then President of India, K.R.Narayanan. For a period between November 1999 to November 2005, he was the Rajya Sabha MP. In his magazine, he used to target the politicians like Indira Gandhi, M.G.Ramachandran, Karunanidhi, Chandrasekhar, Jayalalitha, N.T.Rama Rao, L.K.Advani, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and P.Chidambaram. Cho Ramaswamy had been known as one of the unbiased Political analyst who made the criticism against all the Political Parties.
Acting Career of Cho Ramaswamy
His best performances were Thenmazhai, Muhammed BinTughlaq, Ninaivil Nindraval and Bommalaatam. He had acted in many of the MGR-Jayalalitha Combo movies like Kumarikottam, Oli Villaku, Mattukara Velan, Engal Thangam, Thedi Vantha Mapillai, Adimai Penn, Kanavan, Neerum Nerupum and En Annan.
He had performed in the movies like Onne Onne Kanne Kannu, Shanmugapriya, Thaip Paasam, Uravu Solla Oruvan, Yaarukkum Vetkamillai, Aan Pillai Singam, Sattai Illatha Pambaram, Kanna Thorakiran Saami and Chinna Kuyil Padudhu.
He had worked with other actors like Sivaji Ganesan, Jaishankar, K.A.Thangavelu, T.S.Balaiah, M.R.Radha, V.K.Ramasamy, Nagesh, Manorama and Sachu in other movies. Cho Ramaswamy had worked with Jayalalitha in 19 movies and they were working in the same drama troupe. These movies are Vandhaale Magarasi, Anbai Thedi, Galatta Kalyanam, Deva Sangalpam and few others.
His religious includes the Hindu Maha Samudram, Valmiki Ramayanam, Nane Raja and Verukathagada Bramaniyam. His TV serials were Ivargalai Therindhu Kollungal, Sarakar Pugunda Veedu, Adhigaprasangam, Vande Mataram, Koovam Nadikaraiyanile, Washington II Nallathambi, Yaro Ivar Yaro?, Mydear Brahma Deva, India Enge Pogiradhu?, Puratchi Geethai, Kamarajarai Sandhitthen, Sattam Thalai Guniyattum, Saadhal Ellaiyal Kaadhal, Eravil Chennai, En Koodathu?, Uravugal Ellaiyadi Pappa , Edarkage?, Thiraiyulagathai Thirumbi Parkiren, Janatha Nagar Colony, Inbak Kanaa Ondru Kanden, Unmayae Unn Villai Ennae?, Saraswathiyin Selvan, Sambavaami Yuge Yuge and Brahmanam Enge.
Other works of Cho Ramaswamy
On 14th January each year, the annual day celebration of Thuglak takes place, which attracts a number of readers of the magazine. On 14th January 1970, he began his magazine. He had been the close advisor of Jayalalitha till her death. Cho Ramaswamy had done a campaign for the Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the time of the Parliamentary election. When Cho Ramaswamy died, Modi had tweeted Cho Ramaswamy as “insightful, brilliant and frank” in his twitter page.
Cho Ramaswamy Books
He wrote many books like Enge Brahmanan, Mahabharatham Pesugirathu, Athirshtam Thantha Anubhavangal and Muhammed Bin Tughlak.
This book “Enge Brahmanan” is about a person in search of pure Brahmin in the modern world. In this novel, he had written about the Hinduism origin, rituals of Hindus, then the abilities and responsibilities of each Varnas.
This book Mahabharatham Pesugirathu as the name suggests is about the stories of Mahabharatham from his point of view. Instead of giving conclusions from these stories, he makes the readers to think and give them space to choose which matches the reader best. This book refers to the various versions of the particular stories in existence.
His book Muhammed Bin Tughlaq is the book on the political scenario in the country. This book was made into a Tamil film, which was based on the political satirical writings.
Awards for Cho Ramaswamy
The Government of India declared the third highest civilian award, Padma Bhusan for his works towards the Literature & Education – Journalism on 25th January 2017, after his death.
Death
Cho Ramaswamy died on 7th December 2016 at the age of 82, at the Apollo Hospital in Chennai, due to the cardiac arrest and respiratory issues.