Cho Ramaswamy

Srinivasa Iyer Ramaswamy, better known as Cho Ramaswamy (5 October 1934 satirist, playwright, film director and lawyer from Tamil Nadu. He was a popular comedian in the 1960s and 1970s, and had acted with all the top stars in that period.

Early life Srinivasa Ramaswamy was fondly addressed and remembered as Cho. He was born in a family of lawyers

Family The elder son of R. Srinivasa Iyer and Rajammal, Cho had a younger brother, who was also an actor. Cho died on 7 December 2016. He has two children Sriram Ramaswamy and Sindhuja. He did his schooling from P. S. High School. His niece is actress Ramya Krishnan. The name 'Cho' was the name of the character he played in a Tamil play written by Bhageerathan titled Thenmozhiyaal.

Film career

Films Cho made his debut in 1963 with Paar Magale Paar as a comedian. From 1963 to 2005 he acted in 180 Tamil films and directed 5 films. He also wrote and directed 20 plays.

He also wrote and acted in 27 Television serials. He wrote 10 books. Apart from being an actor, he was both the screenplay and story writer of films such as Thenmazhai, Ninaivil Nindraval, Bommalattam, Aayiram Poi and Panam Paththum Seyyum, all of which proved to be box office hits.

Cho played the role of a bike mechanic in the play Petralthan Pillaiya, written by Pattu of the United Amateur Artistes (UAA), which became a huge success. When the play was later adapted into a film by director A. Bhimsingh, Sivaji Ganesan persuaded Cho to play the same role in the film too, leading to Cho's entry into the film world. Cho and Jayalalithaa have worked together in 19 films and also had been part of the same drama troupe.

Frequent collaborations

Cho as an actor has been pitted against other actors across generations. His comic timing against T. S. Balaiah in Manam Oru Kurangu, or with M. R. Radha, or many times with actors like V. K. Ramaswamy, Nagesh, Manorama and Sachu in many films brought out the best in him.

Cho and Manorama were paired together in 20 films, which included Malligaip poo, Annaiyum pithavum, Dharisanam, Anbait thedi, Ninaivil Nindraval, Nirai Kudam, Therottam, Aayiram Poi, Mohammed Bin Tughlaq, Bommalattam, Pugundha Veedu, Vilayaattu Pillai, Kanavan, Rojavin Raja and Velum Mayilum Thunai and were pitted in a non-couple role in Suryagandhi, Delhi Mappilai and Naadagame Ulagam.

Cho acted alongside Nagesh in Thenmazhai, Ninaivil Nindraval, Ulagam Ivvalavudhaan and Bommalattam among others. He was paired opposite Sachu in films like Deva Sankalpam, Galaataa Kalyanam and Delhi Mappilai.

Cho has acted with the MGR–Jayalalitha combo in films like Oli Villaku, Kanavan, Kumari Kottam, Mattukara Velan, Aadimai Penn, Engal Thangam, Thedi Vantha Mapillai, En Annan and Neerum Nerupum. Cho has acted with MGR in many films like Petralthaan Pillaiya, Sangey Muzhangu, Rickshawkaaran and Thalaivan. Cho has acted with Jayalalitha in other films like Bommalaattam, Galaattaak kalyanam, Suryagandhi, Vandhaale Maharaasi and Anbai Thedi. Politicians such as J. B. Kripalani, Indira Gandhi, Karunanidhi, Chandra Shekhar, G. K. Moopanar, M. G. Ramachandran, Jayalalithaa, Ramakrishna Hegde, N. T. Rama Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and L. K. Advani, Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and P. Chidambaram were targets of his editorial attacks. In his last years, he predicted that Narendra Modi would "win laurels for India" in the future, and also praised Jayalalithaa for her administration of Tamil Nadu.

Cho enjoyed challenging MG Ramachandran (MGR) and his politics, while Karunanidhi stayed his target. The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), in his opinion, was populist and lacked ideology.

On 25 January 2017, the Government of India announced a posthumous Padma Bhushan award for his contribution towards Literature & Education – Journalism.

Politics

Cho has been described as a right-wing public intellectual in tributes.

Cho was publicly opposed to Sri Lankan Tamil militants, particularly the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), at a time when Sri lanka's ethnic crisis was at its peak and almost all political parties in Tamil Nadu highlighted the issue of the Sri Lankan Tamils. He was successful in bringing G. K. Moopanar, of the Tamil Maanila Congress and Karunanidhi together in the 1996 elections, and getting Rajnikanth to publicly support the alliance to defeat Jayalalithaa.

Post 2004, he became soft towards Jayalalithaa and spent all his energy in opposing the DMK and promoting BJP. Cho was an ardent supporter of Narendra Modi. Cho had campaigned extensively for Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the 2014 Indian general election; Modi described Ramaswamy as "Rajguru", and called himself his "fan".

He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the President of India, K. R. Narayanan. In the Rajya Sabha 12 MPs are nominated by the President of India from amongst persons who have special knowledge or practical experience in the fields of literature, science, art or social service. He served as a Rajya Sabha MP from November 1999 to November 2005.

In her obit, Feminist writer V. Geetha referred to Cho as "the Sangh Parivar's political man in Chennai".

Illness and death Cho was hospitalized in January 2015 and was in and out of hospital due to illness. He died of a cardiac arrest at 3:58 AM on 7 December 2016, aged 82, at Apollo Hospital in Chennai, where he was receiving treatment for respiratory problems. He was survived by his wife, Soundaramba Ramaswamy, son Rajivakshan alias Sriram, and daughter Sindhu.

His death happened a day after Jayalalithaa had died. Rajinikanth disclosed later that Jayalalithaa had always wished that Cho should live as long as she lived. He quoted: "As it turns out, he was alive till then and even few hours after that."

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.