‘Crazy Mohan’ passes away

Crazy Mohan, the amazingly talented comic playwright who left millions of his fans in splits through his inimitable humour, passed away on Monday. He was 66 and breathed his last at the Kaveri Hospital, in Chennai at 2 pm after doctors failed to resuscitate him following a cardiac arrest.

Born as Mohan Rangachari in 1952, ‘Crazy’ was a sobriquet that he acquired after the popular play Crazy Thieves in Palavakkam for which he wrote the script. The legendary actor was known for his one-liners in movies and stage plays that struck a chord with his audience instantly. His dialogues are legendary and the actor has shared the space on cinema with legends like Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth.

Truly a multi-faceted personality, Crazy Mohan, an engineer by profession, took to writing even while he was pursuing his engineering course at the College of Engineering in Guindy, now known as Anna University, in the 1970s and has 100 books to his credit.

Crazy Mohan and Kamal Haasan had shared a special relationship with the former writing dialogues for the latter’s films which went onto become superhit at the box office. The actor penned a moving tribute to his departed friend saying his work will live on for long even if Crazy Mohan was not present physically.

He had closely worked in Kamal Haasan’s movies like Kaathala Kaathala, all-time classics Michael Madana Kama Rajan, Apoorva Sagodharargal, Indian and Avvai Shanmughi. The roles played by Crazy Mohan and Kamal Haasan in Vassol Raja MBBS, the Tamil remake of Bollywood hit Munnabhai MBBS, is still etched in the memories of everyone who had watched the movie.

His popular stage play ‘Chocolate Krishna’ was a super-duper hit and was staged across the world for over 1,000 times. Crazy Mohan’s brother Maadhu Balaji played the hero in all stage plays and the dup were a sensation in the 1980s and 1990s.

Crazy Mohan is also an established writer with over 100 short stories to his credit. The actor was a donor and philanthropist for over 39 years, having contributed towards heart surgeries and kidney transplants from the proceeds from the sale of his drama tickets.