Cho Ramaswamy founded the magazine and commenced its first publication on the first day of the Tamil harvesting month "Thai" (Tamil: தை) based on the Tamil calendar system (14 January 1970). He was the editor of the magazine until his death and has penned several columns.
The name of the magazine and its mascot draws from Muhammad bin Thuglak, Sultan of Delhi, on whom in 1968, the founder staged a play and later the 1971 movie Muhammad bin Tughluq. The plot is a socio-political satire, which narrates the scheme and success of a small band of idealists who take over the Government of India as the resurrected Muhammad bin Thuglak. The founder directed and plays the lead — in the movie and the play. It was conducted under the banner of Viveka Fine Arts Club.
The magazine features on its front cover a satirical cartoon, pertinent to an issue of current social and public interest.
The editor stopped publishing for two weeks, when a state of emergency was declared in India. When the publication resumed after the first two weeks of emergency, the issue was published with a black front cover. Thuglak was the only magazine in India, whose advertisements were censored during this time.
There was only other instance, later in its history, when the magazine was published with a black front was after the Babri Masjid was brought down in 1992.
Pricing and subscription
The magazine is available through electronic access to readers outside of India via its website for a price of INR 900 or approximately US$20.
References
↑"Thuglak Ramesh interview". Interview. Behindwoods youtube channel. 20 January 2020. Retrieved 21 January 2020. Reader: 'What is Thuglak's circulation?'
↑"Tamil Nadu – Periodicals". Press in India (Part II): Annual Report of the Registrar of Newspapers for India. New Delhi: Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. 1971. p.398.
↑Baskaran, S. Theodore (1981). The Message Bearers: The Nationalist Politics and the Entertainment Media in South India, 1880–1945. Madras: Cre-A. pp.152–156.
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Ramnarayan, Gowri (7 June 2004). "Cho, what's up?". Interview. Kasturi and Sons Ltd for The Hindu. Archived from the original on 10 April 2005. Retrieved 25 August 2008. For the Viveka Arts amateur theatre company to which he belongs, founded by brother Rajagopal (Ambi), this is a matter for jubilation in its golden jubilee year.
↑
Ambi, Cho Ramasawamy (Director), Manorama, Peelisivam … (1971). Muhammad bin Thuglak(Motion picture). India: Swamynathan.
↑Ramnarayan, Gowri (7 June 2004). "Cho, what's up?". The Hindu. Retrieved 1 October 2026.
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Warrier, Shobha (4 July 2005). "This is the time for imposing Emergency". Interview. Rediff. Retrieved 25 August 2008. I was agitated initially and stopped the publication of Thuglak for two issues. Later, when I restarted, I published a black wrapper. In fact, two issues of Thuglak had black wrappers; one was during the Emergency and the other after Babri Masjid was pulled down.
