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Cho is a familiar name not only in Tamil Nadu but all over India. He is known more as a political commentator who edits a Tamil magazine, Tughlaq. But little do people know about Cho as a Tamil dramatist. Cho and his friends’ drama club, Viveka Fine Arts Club, recently completed 50 years. Arup Chanda reports. Cho
and his friends’ drama club, Viveka Fine Arts Club, recently completed
50 years. To commemorate the occasion, the club is enacting plays all
over Chennai. There are as many versions of when the club came into
existence as there are members. Advancing age and reducing memory spans
may have something to do with the confusion. In the circumstances, and
seeing the determination of powerful lobbies within VFAC to hold the
golden jubilee celebrations this year, the simplest and the most
dignified way out was to count 50 backwards from 2004 and arrive at the
year of the Club’s formation. That should have settled it for all
time. But then, nothing is ever finally settled at VFAC. The members
are still fighting about who really got the best actor award for Viveka’s
first-ever play, about that cycle lamp one nimble member borrowed from
but never returned to a shop on Fourth Street in Chennai. Cho’s
plays are highly dialogue-based and related to either politics or
socio-economic issues. Even after 50 years, the theatre halls are packed
with audiences from all social classes. 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. 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. Nermai Urangum Nerum (When Honesty Sleeps) is about
when a chief minister suddenly dies and the party leader secretly
replaces him with an identical-looking dupe.
A slum dweller who
chances upon this secret blackmails the dupe CM into running a clean
government. With the help of a college professor, they put in place good
policies and isolate the party leader. But finally, the duplicate CM and
the party leader join hands with vested interests. 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 criticises society for creating prostitutes and then condemning its
own creation. One of Cho’s famous play is Mohammed Bin Tughlaq, which
is another political satire. Two friends decide to play a joke on society
by pretending that they are Mohammed Bin Tughlaq and Ibn Batuta, telling
the story that they had been mistaken for dead, and had survived their
entombment all these centuries with the help of some herb. The idea is
to teach the country about the corruption and double-standards in
political life. Tughlaq forms a party, contests the elections and is
elected. He is arbitrary and whimsical. The power goes to his head and
he becomes power crazy. When his friend, who is pretending to be Ibn
Batuta, suggests they call off the joke because it has gone too far,
Tughlaq says he does not know what he is talking about. When Ibn Batuta
begins going around trying to tell people that he and Tughlaq are
ordinary people, Tughlaq ensures that the crowds jeer at him and dismiss
him as a madman. The message is that the country cannot improve unless
its people do. Another play, Is God Dead? An atheist gradually
begins believing in God under the tutelage of a priest. He comes across
a doctor who has developed a new anti-tuberculosis drug. The doctor
manages to gets a lot of publicity for the drug and eventually wins a
Padma Vibhushan. Meanwhile, the drug results in the deaths of several
slum dwellers. The atheist-turned-believer begins questioning the
presence of God and decides to expose the doctor. He eventually
sacrifices his life to prove that the doctor is at fault, challenging
the priest about the existence of God. Enru Theniyum Inda
Swantantara Thaagam (When will this thirst for freedom be quenched?)
-Through the machinations of Narada, a politician who has reached
Yamaloka plots with Yama to organise elections in Devaloka. The
result is chaos and havoc in Devaloka. The chaos paralyses even
Vishnu. The message of the play: The thirst for real freedom is still
unquenched. After 50 years, Cho’s admirers wanted to know how he
became a dramatist? Little did they know that he gained his entry by
threatening a famous Tamil playwright! When a famous Tamil playwright,
Koothabiran wrote his play, Thenmozhiaal, he did not have a role
for Cho at all. That would have discouraged a lot of people, but not
Cho. He just went up to Koothabiran and ordered him to write him a role.
Koothabiran was not taking any lip from anyone. "It is not possible
to fit you in," he said. "Well, in that case, I will walk into
every scene," Cho said. The threat, combined with the mad gleam in
his eye, sent shivers running through Koothabiran. He reported his
encounter with Cho to the bigwigs at Viveka Fine Arts. They asked
Koothabiran to relax. "Do you think he will really carry out such a
threat? Don’t worry, he’s not capable of it," was their
response. "I am and I will," Cho told Koothabiran. "I
need at least three scenes. Or else you see me in every scene." The
scriptwriter hurriedly wrote in not three but five scenes to accommodate
him. But he could not think of a name for this new character. "Never
mind, I can go with my own name," Cho said. Koothabiran
gratefully grabbed the offer and named the character Mr. Cho.
Calling all those who thought Cho got his strange three-letter name
from the name of the character in Thenmozhiaal: you now stand informed
that it is the other way round. Mr Cho got his name from the man who was
to play him. |
Cho
