Sylvianism

50 Tamil Movies to watch before you die – 13

I think 13 became an unlucky number for this series of posts. The last post in this series came in October 2009 (That’s awfully long for a series of posts). But i was so determined to post number 13 and interestingly i have chosen a very different movie for Number 13. Check it out.

Muhammad Bin Tughluq (1971)

Can you name a person in Tamil Nadu who can make a brutal, extremely sarcastic and honest political satire movie?I think there is only one person who made it and even got away with in flying colors (black and white??!)
Cho Ramaswamy, fondly called as Cho is a political analyst, a Tamil Political Magazine Editor and a writer. A lesser known fact is that he started as a playwright and a stage actor. Even his entre into stage was accidental as he puts it. He made his foray in to movies too and he was an instant success. His best movie and play is Muhammad Bin Tughluq (1971), which I would consider arguably the best political satire in India. Don’t ask me how many have come.

Muhammad Bin Tughluq was originally a play written by Cho in 1968 and staged by his troupe Viveka Arts many a times. The same group of people to make the successful play in to a movie in 1971.
Rangachari (Rajagopal aka Ambi) is a well known archeologist, who is on a mission to find the remains of Muhammad Bin Tughluq and identify his real cause of death. Once during the mission, he finds Tughluq (Cho) and Ibn Battuta (Peeli Sivam) alive. They claim that they were alive because of an secret herb. Tughluq enters back to the country with fanfare. Understands the political scene overnight. Participates in elections, becomes the prime minister in his own ridiculous way. Makes some innocuous decisions. But the mystery unravels slowly where Cho and Peeli Sivam are college students who wanted to change the way democracy is being misused in the country. They with the help of their guru impersonate as Tughluq and Battuta to make people understand the real value of democracy. On the day of revealing, the intoxication of power gets in to Cho’s head and he plots the killing of his friend by creating riot against him to stay as prime minister. The cast included Cho, Peeli Sivam, Ambi, Neelu, Manorama, music was scored by MS Viswanathan, produced by Alliance Productions and the story, dialogues and direction were handled by Cho himself.

Why it is so special?

1. The movie from start to end never deviates from the satirical mode and it crticised every decision made by the then governments. The decisions of Cho as Tughlaq has became a reality in later stages of Indian politics – like where he makes all the MPs as deputy PMs – Meghalaya’s 4 CMs? He makes one language for each state as the official language and even suggests Persian as the official language of India. The buying out of MPs, state sponsored riots what not. Although you tend to laugh at the movie, after a particular point in the movie we are hit with the reality of the country we are living in.

2. The sharp dialogues which makes you laugh and think at the same time. Actually if you watch it carefully, the best satirical ones are not given Cho or Peeli Sivam but the supporting cast of Ambi, Neelu and Manorama.

3. The apt cast and most of the actors are from the stage which made them natural. I think Manorama was the only one casted from the cine world and she was brilliant as the “kolgai parappu Seyalalar” (PR) of Tughluq. Casting the stage actors had it’s own flaw of making the movie a more like a drama but it can be overlooked for the brilliance of the movie.

4. For the man by the name “Cho” – the concept and the dialogues – he was just unmatchable. His dialogue deliveries and the slight jump he makes when he walks, lovely. He never smiles in the whole movie and you know how serious were his stupid decisions. He is matched  for every scene by Peeli Sivam as Ibn Battuta – nobody could have done the roles better than them. Cho scores in the final scene when power takes over him and his psychic acting proved that he is better actor than what he is remembered for.

Why it is in the list?

1. Arguably the best political satire to make it to the Indian screens and definitely the most honest portrayal.

2. The relevance of the plot even today. If you watch it tomorrow, you will relate to the current political situation and have a wry smile at the plight of common people like us

3. For the sheer brilliance of Cho and Peeli Sivam

Trivia

1. The drama troupe of Cho was named as Viveka fine arts because they were all graduated from Vivekananda college in Chennai

2. The movie was portrayed as against Muslim community by some political parties but when they saw the movie, they found it is nothing to do with the community. In fact the title song on Allah and sung by MSV is still revered as one of the best songs written in Tamil on Allah.

3. Due to the success of the movie, Cho named his political magazine as Tughluq and it was his another spat with DMK that Thugluq’s circulation went up. I will write about it later.

4. Ambi who acts as Rangachari in the movie and the convener of the drama troupe is the own brother of Cho

5. I think the stage play was in production till 2007 ( am not sure) but  could not continue because of the age factor of Cho. I dunno whether they do special shows. I do have a DVD of the stage play.

6. His famous plays include Judgement Reserved, Sambavami Yuge Yuge, Unmaiye un Vilai Yenna, Iraivan Iranthuvittana and many more. His book Enge Brahamanan ?, one of the definitive literary piece about Brahminism was serialized for Jaya TV recently. The second part is currently running.

Related posts:

1. 50 Tamil Movies to watch before you die-3
2. 50 Tamil Movies to watch before you die – 5
3. 50 Tamil Movies to watch before you die – 6
4. 50 Tamil Movies to watch before you Die- 1
5. 50 Tamil Movies to watch before you die-7

02. April 2010 by Sylvian
Categories: 50 Tamil Movies to watch before you Die, Movies | Tags: cho, cho ramaswamy, enge brahmanan, featured post, judgement reserved, manorama, MSV, Muhammad bin Tughluq, political satire, tamil movies, tamil political satire, tughluq, viveka fine arts | 14 comments