Poets and Pancakes Summary

In this lesson, Asokamitran talks about Gemini Studios and all that
helps in keeping it in the spotlight. He starts by making a mention
about ‘Pancakes’, the famous make-up brand which Gemini Studios
ordered in truckloads. He then talks about the plight of actors and
actresses who have to bear too many lights on their face while getting
ready in the make-up room. The make-up department, according to
him, used heaps of make-up to turn them into ugly-looking creatures.
Shockingly, he talks about the office boy of the make-up department
whose task is to slap paint onto the faces of players at the time of
crowd-shooting. He was a poet and had joined the Studio in the hope
of becoming an actor, screenwriter, director or a lyricst. In those days,
the author used to work inside a cubicle and had the task of collecting
newspaper cuttings which, according to others was insignificant.
Thus, office boy would come in time again, to bother him with his
complaints. He was well-convinced that the reason behind his misery
was Subbu. He thought Subbu had an advantage because he was born
a Brahmin. Subbu was a resourceful man whose loyalty made him
stand out. He was tailor-made for films and it was difficult to imagine
film-making without him. He was very welcoming and was known for
his hospitality. Just like many others at the Gemini Studios, he also
did poetry. He worked for the story department which also consisted
of a lawyer. People generally called him the opposite of a legal
practitioner. He was a logical and neutral man amidst a room full of
dreamers. Asokamitran then describes how Gemini Studios got a
chance to host a group of international performers called Moral
Rearmament Army. Though the plots and messages were not
complex, their sets and costumes were near to perfection so much so
that for many years, Tamil plays displayed sunset and sunrise in a
way inherited from ‘Jotham Valley’. Then another guest, Stephen
Spender comes to visit Gemini Studios. People had hardly heard of
him and they couldn’t even connect with him due to linguistic
barriers. It was not until a few years later that Asokamitran saw his
name in a book and realised who he actually was.
Poets and Pancakes Introduction
The lesson is taken from the book ‘My Years with the boss’ written
by Asokamitran. In this excerpt, he talks about all the elements that
kept Gemini Studios running. From Pancake make-up to the office
boy of the make-up department, from Subbu to the lawyer, every
element helped in making Gemini Studios a successful film producing
company.

Theme of the Lesson

The chapter tells us about the different ways in which people work
together despite having a dislike for each other. We also come to
know the difference between reel life and real life. The narrator gives
us an idea of the back stage happenings that took place at the Gemini
studio , the relationship between the various artists, poets and other
team members. The process for preparing the artists to perform in
movie roles is also talked about.

Poets and Pancakes- Question and Answers

1. What does the writer mean by ‘the fiery misery’ of those
subjected to make-up’?
A. By ‘the fiery misery’ of those subjected to make-up, the writer is
trying to throw light upon the difficulties actors and actresses have to
face because of half a dozen mirrors surrounded with large light
bulbs. The bulbs generated a lot of heat and were definitely not a
pleasure for the eyes.
2. What is the example of national integration that the author
refers to?
A. At first, a Bengali was the head of the make-up studio but then he
outgrew Gemini Studios and left it for better opportunities. After him,
it was supervised by a Maharashtrian who was assisted by a Dharwar
Kannadiga, an Andhra, a Madras Indian Christian, an Anglo-Burmese
and the usual local Tamils. The fact that people from different
cultures worked together puts forward the post-independence national
integration scenario. It shows that people were united way before All
India Radio and Doordarshan raised the concept.
3. What work did the ‘office boy’ do in the Gemini Studios? Why
did he join the studios? Why was he disappointed?
A. The ‘office boy’ had the duty of slapping paints on the faces of
players at the time of crowd-shooting. He joined Gemini Studios with
a dream of becoming a first-rate actor, screen-writer or producer.
4. Why did the author appear to be doing nothing at the studios?
A. The author’s job was to cut and collect newspaper clippings or
sometimes even writing them by hand. This was easier and lesser in
comparison to what others were doing at the Studio.
5. Why was the office boy frustrated? Who did he show his anger
on?
A. The office boy was frustrated because he thought his literary talent
was going wasted in a room full of barbers and make-up artists. He
somehow managed to deviate his anger on Subbu.
6. Who was Subbu’s principal?
A. The Boss, SS Vasan, who was also the founder of Gemini Studios,
was Subbu’s principal
7. Subbu is described as a many-sided genius. List four of his
special abilities.
A. Subbu, as a man of many qualities, had the ability to look cheerful
at all times, was an excellent actor who could portray his roles in
several ways, was an accomplished poet, and loved anyone he met.
8. Why was the legal adviser referred to as the opposite by
others?
A. The legal adviser was referred to as the opposite by others because
he once resorted to blackmailing an actress by recording her while she
was throwing tantrums on the set. This is not considered to be legal,
thus he was usually called the opposite.
9. What made the lawyer stand out from the others at Gemini
Studios?
A. Gemini Studios was filled with dreamers and creative personnel. A
lawyer in between them was the only man with logic. The writer calls
him a ‘neutral’ man.
10. Did the people at Gemini Studios have any particular political
affiliations?
A. No, although they dressed up in Khadi, they did not have the
slightest political affiliations.
11. Why was the Moral Rearmament Army welcomed at the
Studios?
A. Frank Buchman’s Moral Re-Armament army was welcomed at the
studio mainly because of their political association. The MRA came
as a welcome change to their monotonous days at the studio.
12. Name one example to show that Gemini studios was
influenced by the plays staged by MRA.
A. Frank Buchman’s Moral Rearmament Army staged two
plays“Jotham Valley” and The Forgotten Factor” in a most
professional manner. The Gemini family of 600 and the people of
Madras city watched them times and again.
13. Who was The Boss of Gemini Studios?
A. SS Vasan was The Boss of Gemini Studios.
14. What caused the lack of communication between the
Englishman and the people at Gemini Studios?
A. The British accent of the Englishman caused lack of
communication between him and the people at Gemini Studios.
15. Why is the Englishman’s visit referred to as an unexplained
mystery?
A. The Englishman’s visit to the Gemini Studios is referred to as
anunexplained mystery because no one could decipher his identity,
whether he was a poet or an editor. Besides, when he spoke, no one at
the studio understood what he intended to say as his accent was
beyond their comprehension.
16. Who was the English visitor to the studios?
A. Stephen Spender
17. How did the author discover who the English visitor to the
studios was?
A. Before investing money in participating in a short story contest
organized by an English periodical- The Encounter, the author did a
research on the magazine. He went to the British Council Library
where, while going through an issue of that periodical, he discovered
that its editor was Stephen Spender, the poet that had once visited the
studio.
18. What does The God that Failed refer to?
A. The God that Failed refers to a collection of essays by six authors
who wrote about their journey into Communism, one of them being
Stephen Spender.
19. The author has used gentle humour to point out human
foibles. Pick out instances of this to show how this serves to make
the piece interesting.
A. The author portrays the make-up artists and the usage of the
pancakes in an interesting way. Even the caricature of Subbu is
hilarious. The way he tries to help his principal is quite amusing. The
episode of the legal adviser that inadvertently causes the end of an
actress’s career is yet another example. The frustration of the office
boy, the superficial praising of Gandhi, hatred of Communism and the
‘mystery’ surrounding Stephen Spender are some of the instances
where the author has incorporated gentle humour.
20. Why was Kothamangalam Subbu considered No. 2 in Gemini
Studios?
A. Kothamangalam Subbu was succesful in securing the place closest
to The Boss by means of flattery. He was not brilliant but a rather
cheerful person and loyal to The Boss. He offered solutions whenever
The Boss was in a fix. Thus, the staff considered him No.2 in Gemini
Studios.
21. How does the author describe the incongruity of an English
poet addressing the audience at Gemini Studios?
A. The English poet was addressing the Tamil audience at Gemini
Studios in English with a typical provincial accent. He was talking
about the thrills and travails of an English poet to a dazed and silent
audience. This was the incongruity because his audience could not
understand him at all.
22. What do you understand about the author’s literary
inclinations from the account?
A. The writer was a prose-writer. He wanted to send a short story for
the short story contest organized by a British periodical by the name
‘The Encounter’.
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Poets and Pancakes Extract-based-questions

The make-up room had the look of a hair-cutting salon with lights at
all angles around half a dozen large mirrors. They were all
incandescent lights, so you can imagine the fiery misery of those
subjected to make-up. The make-up department was first headed by a
Bengali who became too big for a studio and left. He was succeeded
by a Maharashtrian who was assisted by a Dharwar Kannadiga, an
Andhra, a Madras Indian Christian, an Anglo-Burmese and the usual
local Tamils. All this shows that there was a great deal of national
integration long before A.I.R. and Doordarshan began broadcasting
programmes on national integration.
1. Why did the make up room look like a hair-cutting salon?
A. It had about half a dozen mirrors and lights at all angles which
made it look like a hair cutting salon
2. What does “so you can imagine the fiery misery of those subjected
to make-up” mean?
a. The people who got make up were set on fire
b. The lights heated the people who got make up
c. those who got make up led a miserable life
d. None of these
A. b
3. The Bengali became too big for the studio means –
a. The job was below his level
b. He was below the level of the job
c. The job was beyond his skills
d. He was unfit for the job
A. a
4. How do we know that there was a great deal of national integration
long before A.I.R. and Doordarshan began broadcasting programmes
on national integration?
A. Gemini studios had staff from various regions and religions,
working together. This shows that there was a great deal of national
integration long before A.I.R. and Doordarshan began broadcasting
programmes on national integration
This gang of nationally integrated make-up men could turn any
decent-looking person into a hideous crimson hued monster with the
help of truck-loads of pancake and a number of other locally made
potions and lotions. Those were the days of mainly indoor shooting,
and only five per cent of the film was shot outdoors. I suppose the sets
and studio lights needed the girls and boys to be made to look ugly in
order to look presentable in the movie. A strict hierarchy was
maintained in the make-up department. The chief make-up man made
the chief actors and actresses ugly, his senior assistant the ‘second’
hero and heroine, the junior assistant the main comedian, and so forth.
The players who played the crowd were the responsibility of the
office boy. (Even the make-up department of the Gemini Studio had
an ‘office boy’!)
1. Find a synonym of group
A. Gang
2. State true or false-
After make up the person looked ugly.
A. True
3. What is a hierarchy?
a. Stair case
b. Levels in an organization
c. levels in the food cycle
d. None of these
A. b
4. Why did the office boy and not the chief make up man do the make
up of the crowd?
A. The office boy was less skilled in comparison to the chief make up
ma. So, he did the make up of the crowd while the chief make up man
attended the chief actors and actresses
In those days I worked in a cubicle, two whole sides of which were
French windows. (I didn’t know at that time they were called French
windows.) Seeing me sitting at my desk tearing up newspapers day in
and day out, most people thought I was doing next to nothing. It is
likely that the Boss thought likewise too. So anyone who felt I should
be given some occupation would barge into my cubicle and deliver an
extended lecture. The ‘boy’ in the make-up department had decided I
should be enlightened on how great literary talent was being allowed
to go waste in a department fit only for barbers and perverts. Soon I
was praying for crowd-shooting all the time. Nothing short of it could
save me from his epics.
1. State true or false-
There were windows on two sides of the room
A. True
2. Did the boss think that the author did a lot of work?
A. No, the boss thought that the author was doing next to nothing
3. Find a synonym of rush
A. Barge
4. Why would people deliver an extended lecture?
A. They thought that the author did nothing and so, if they had any
work for him, they would enter his room and give instructions like a
lecture.
5. Why does the author say that he prayed for crowd shootings?
A. On days of crowd shootings, the office boy would get busy doing
the make up of the crowd and the author would not have to listen to
his stories.
While every other member of the Department wore a kind of uniform
— khadi dhoti with a slightly oversized and clumsily tailored white
khadi shirt — the legal adviser wore pants and a tie and sometimes a
coat that looked like a coat of mail. Often he looked alone and
helpless — a man of cold logic in a crowd of dreamers — a neutral
man in an assembly of Gandhiites and khadiites. Like so many of
those who were close to The Boss, he was allowed to produce a film
and though a lot of raw stock and pancake were used on it, not much
came of the film. Then one day The Boss closed down the Story
Department and this was perhaps the only instance in all human
history where a lawyer lost his job because the poets were asked to go
home.
1. Which of the following images best represents a coat of mail?
A. a
2. Why did the legal adviser look helpless?
A. His work involved application of logic while the other members
were poets whose work involved creativity. So, he was alone and
helpless because their way of working was different.
3. What are Gandhiites and Khadiites?
A. Those who follow the principles of Mahatma Gandhi and wear
Khadi fabric are called Gandhiites and Khadiites
4. The Boss closed down the Story Department because-
a. The poets were not working
b. The film produced by the legal adviser failed
c. the staff was against each other
d. Can’t say
It was obvious that he too knew precious little about the poet (or the
editor). The speech was all in the most general terms but here and
there it was peppered with words like ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’.
Then the poet spoke. He couldn’t have addressed a more dazed and
silent audience — no one knew what he was talking about and his
accent defeated any attempt to understand what he was saying. The
whole thing lasted about an hour; then the poet left and we all
dispersed in utter bafflement — what are we doing? What is an
English poet doing in a film studio which makes Tamil films for the
simplest sort of people? People whose lives least afforded them the
possibility of cultivating a taste for English poetry? The poet looked
pretty baffled too, for he too must have felt the sheer incongruity of
his talk about the thrills and travails of an English poet. His visit
remained an unexplained mystery.
1. Find a synonym of sprayed
A. Peppered
2. Why was the audience dazed and silent?
a. They were sleepy
b. They could not understand
c. they were angry
d. They were forced to attend
A. b
3. Find a synonym of confusion
A. Bafflement
4. State true or false-
No one knew the purpose of the poet’s visit
A. True
The great prose-writers of the world may not admit it, but my
conviction grows stronger day after day that prose writing is not and
cannot be the true pursuit of a genius. It is for the patient, persistent,
persevering drudge with a heart so shrunken that nothing can break it;
rejection slips don’t mean a thing to him; he at once sets about
making a fresh copy of the long prose piece and sends it on to another
editor enclosing postage for the return of the manuscript. It was for
such people that The Hindu had published a tiny announcement in an
insignificant corner of an unimportant page — a short story contest
organised by a British periodical by the name The Encounter. Of
course, The Encounter wasn’t a known commodity among the Gemini
literati. I wanted to get an idea of the periodical before I spent a
considerable sum in postage sending a manuscript to England. In
those days, the British Council Library had an entrance with no long
winded signboards and notices to make you feel you were sneaking
into a forbidden area. And there were copies of The Encounter lying
about in various degrees of freshness, almost untouched by readers.
When I read the editor’s name, I heard a bell ringing in my shrunken
heart. It was the poet who had visited the Gemini Studios — I felt like
I had found a long lost brother and I sang as I sealed the envelope and
wrote out his address.
1. Find a synonym of belief
A. Conviction
2. State true or false-
The staff at Gemini studios knew about the periodical named The
Encounter.
A. False
3. What is a forbidden area?
a. Religious place
b. No entry area
c. High security zone
d. Court room
A. b
4. What does it mean by “there were copies of The Encounter lying
about in various degrees of freshness”?
A. There were numerous copies of the periodical – The Encounter.
Some had been read many times while some had not been read as
many times. So some looked fresher than the others.
5. Who was the editor of The Encounter?
a. Asokamitran
b. Subbu
c. Stephen Spender
d. Vasan
A. c
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