A different brand of wit

Film historian Mohan V. Raman talks to SRINIVASA RAMANUJAM about five of his favourite moments on the big screen featuring Cho Ramaswamy

Cho Ramasamy in the Tamil film "Mohamed Bin Thuglak

Paar Magaley Paar (1963)

It was originally a stage play by UAA — and in that, Cho was ‘Mechanical Madasamy’. This is when he started using Madras baashai — and showed his prowess in it. In certain scenes, where he shared screen space with doyens like Sivaji Ganesan and M.R. Radha, Cho would perform so casually… that was his forte. I vividly recall the scene shot at the steps of Sivaji Ganesan’s house, in which Cho brings a car for him — it was his first film and he did an extraordinary job in that.

Bommalattam

(1968)

It is immortal because of the popular ‘Vaa Vaathyare’ song. That one song is enough to immortalise both Manorama and Cho… and it has. The film is a classic rib-tickling comedy by Muktha Srinivasan and had screenplay by Cho himself.

Muhammad Bin Tughlaq (1971)

A script so novel that it’s relevant even four decades after its release — not just due to the humour, but also with respect to the content. It is relevant even in today’s electoral politics. The visionary that Cho was is seen in this film — because he was not just the hero, but was also the writer and director. He had helmed the original play that inspired the film as well.

Avanthaan Manithan (1975)

Cho steals the show in this film, which was one of Chandrababu’s last films. It is interesting that while Chandrababu speaks in a rural Tamil dialect, Cho speaks in a city dialect... and both were actually great exponents of Madras

baashai ! I remember a poignant line that Cho delivers to Chandrababu — ‘Ellarum Ungala Marandutaanga pa’ — which reflected the latter’s situation in real life at that point of time.

Guru Sishyan

(1988)

Cho was one person who could spout political dialogues and display his brand of wit… right from the days of MGR to Rajinikanth. His comedy in this film too was satire-driven… maybe because he was essentially a stage actor.