Cho's 'Thuglak' -- 50 Years Of Poking Fun At Power, Donkey Style

Cho Ramaswamy launched Thu­g­lak in January 1970 with a cartoon of two donkeys on the cover, promising them a steady feast now that the magazine had arrived. Many expec­ted the magazine would prove to be 바카라�a donkey diminishing into an ant before disappearing바카라�, as a popular Tamil phrase goes. But Thuglak, named after Cho바카라�s fam­ous Tamil play Muh­a­m­med Bin Thuglak, a roaring political satire, has been as doughty as a donkey. There were a few more covers with India바카라�s most verbally abused animal during the first Tamil political magazine바카라�s 50-year journey as Thuglak became an inseparable part of Tamil ­Nadu바카라�s Dravidian-dominated pol­itical narrative. Brahmins might form the bulk of its loyal readers, but no major politician could aff­ord to ignore its contents, especially when Cho was around.

바카라�Thuglak used to be a prized poss­ession of student leaders during the 1970s and one issue would go around our hostel before the next one hit the stands,바카라� admits DMK spokesperson K.S. Radhakrishnan. Launched when K. Karunanidhi was calling the shots and no local publication dared to question the government, the magazine became the opposition바카라�s leading voice against the DMK바카라�s hegemony. When Karuna­nidhi refuted that photos of Hindu gods had been garlanded with chappals during a rationalist outfit바카라�s procession in Salem, Thuglak published the photos to disprove his claim. Karuna­nidhi ordered the seizure of all copies from the press, but a few bundles made their way out and the issue became a collector바카라�s item. This boosted the circulation and Cho acknowledged it with a photo of Karunanidhi sitting at a table with the name board 바카라�Thuglak ­circulation manager바카라�.

Thuglak바카라�s USP was Cho바카라�s satirical hum­our popping out of almost every section바카라�cartoons, political serials involving Jaggu, a Chennai rowdy doling out political wisdom and the hugely popular Q&A. When the Indira Gandhi government decided to bring out a stamp to commemorate Sanjay Gandhi, Cho questioned the logic as Sanjay had no acc­omplishments other than being the PM바카라�s son.  Thuglak published its own set of stamps of Subhash Saxena, the co-pilot who died with Sanjay in the 1980 air crash. Many readers even posted letters to Thuglak with the Saxena stamps and they got duly delivered.

Cho바카라�s magazine was the only publication in Tamil Nadu to oppose the Emergency. It got around the strict censorship with various tricks바카라�printing a film review of 1950s Tamil film Sarvadhigaari (Dictator) with Cho comparing the villain to a north Indian politician (Indira, of course); publishing a critique of Tamil theatre highlighting anti-establishment dialogues from the pre-independence era; ridiculing the 20-point programme with a satirical ad for a pappad brand selling its 20 properties.

바카라�The magazine carried credibility even though it was avowedly anti-DMK and used to switch sides ahead of elections, with Cho explaining why he chose the lesser evil,바카라� says journalist R. Bhagwan Singh. 바카라�He also shared a personal rapport with most of those who were ridiculed on the cover.바카라� Though unabashedly pro-BJP, Cho printed a black cover after the Babri Masjid바카라�s demolition and carried an editorial tit­led 바카라�Atrocity at Ayodhya바카라�.

Asked if Thuglak shed its semblance of neutrality after Cho바카라�s demise in December 2016, editor S. Gurumurthy says, 바카라�Neu­trality is like falling between two stools. What is more important is inde­pendence and Thuglak continues to live up to the standards set by Cho.바카라�

By G.C. Shekhar in Chennai