CBSE Class 12 English Poets And Pancakes Assignment Set A

About the Author

Ashokmitran was born in Secunderabad on 22 September 1931. He spent the first twenty years of his life there. His real name was Jagadisa Thyagarajan. He moved to Chennai in 1952 after the death of his father. His father’s friend, S.S. Vasan who was a film director and the owner of Gemini Studios, invited him to work at Studios. He worked for more than a decade at the Gemini Studios.

Theme

An account of the events and personalities in a film company in the early days of Indian cinema.

Justification of the Title

Gemini studio has some great poets like SDS Yogiar, Sangue Subramanyam, Harindranath Chattopadhyaya. They were insignificant poets but thought themselves as they are excellent. They were not talented but wasted lots of money of Vasan. Gemini studio also was the most influential film producing organization of India, where over 600 staff worked, the Gemini Studios made movie for Tamilnadu and other southern Indian states. Pancakes was the make-up material that Gemini studios bought in truck-loads. So the title ‘Poets and Pancakes’ is apt and appropriate.

Message

The message of the lesson is simple and straight. Everyone should be dedicated to their profession irrespective of caste, colour or creed. This is what happened in Gemini studios where the artists were always busy in their own assignment how small or big position they had. They had no political association or inclination, they were rather united with a common goal of making movies. Moreover, when MRA tried to influence about communism it failed to produce effects on the artists, so one unity counts at every step.

Summary

The story “Poets and Pancakes” is a passage from Asokamitran’s book “My Years with Boss”. Asokamitran talks about his days at the Gemini Studio. The Gemini Studios produced many films, which impacted the aspect of Indian life. Here, Asokamitran talks about a trendy make-up brand named Pancake. This material was bought and used in the studio. He also names the few actresses who used the brand. The Gemini Studios used the Pancake brand excessively and ordered truckloads of their commodities.

He talks about the office boy whose task was to slap paint onto the faces of the players at the time of crowd-shooting. He states that the office boy once yearned to be a director, actor, screenwriter, or lyricist. However, he blamed his disgrace on Subbu. In those days, the author worked inside a cubicle and had the job of gathering newspaper cuttings which, according to others, was unimportant. Thus, the office boy would come to bother him with his complaints. The office boy was probably jealous of Subbu’s growth. Subbu was very close to his boss. When the boss had any problem in doing a scene in a film, Subbu could recommend several practical ideas. As Subbu was Brahmin, the author thought he had the upper hand. Though Subbu was always beside his boss, he was also a member of the story department. Besides poets and writers in the story department, there existed a lawyer too. Formally he was known as a legal adviser. However, people called him the opposite of it. Once the legal adviser unconsciously destroyed the career of a talented actress.

In the story of Poet and Pancakes, the narrator talks about another guest who visited Gemini Studios. He was an Englishman. Some thought him to be a poet or an editor. The Boss, Mr. Vasan, greeted the Englishman. He read out a long speech expressing freedom and democracy. Then the Englishman conversed. His accent baffled everyone. They could not understand the purpose of his visit, and it remained a mystery.

Years later, when the writer left the Gemini studios, he did not have much money but had much free time. So, discounted goods on sale interested him. Once the writer came across a book that had six essays written by six famous men who wrote about communalism. The authors of the book were Richard Wright, Louis Fischer, and Stephen Spender. As the writer read Stephen’s name, it reminded him of the days when Spenders visited Gemini Studios. Finally, in the summary of Poets and Pancakes, we can see the notions of the film industry, particularly in India.

Talking about Indian cinema, we receive a lot of films every year but the success of a movie solely depends upon the other people working backstage. If these people are not there, then it is not even possible for us to have good films. India has films in multiple languages such as Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kennedy, Punjabi, Bhojpuri, and so on. The Indian film industry is a global enterprise. Indian movies are famous all around the world and people love to watch them.

CHAPTER IN A NUTSHELL

The Gemini studio was located in Madras (Chennai). The writer recounts his years in the company. The make-up department was in the upstairs of a building that was believed to have been Robert Clive’s stables.

Pancake was the brand name of the make-up material used by the artists in Gemini Studios. The make-up room had the look of a hair -cutting salon with incandescent lights at all angles around half a dozen large mirrors, the writer speaks about the ‘fiery misery’ ‘of those subjected to make-up. There was a great deal of ‘national integration’ in the department and a strict hierarchy was maintained there.

The players who played the crowd were the responsibility of the ‘office boy’ in his early forties, a frustrated person, who turned all his anger towards Kothamanagalam Subbu.

The author’s job was to cut out newspaper clippings and store them in files. Most people including the ‘boy’ thought author was doing ‘next to nothing’. S S Vasan (Editor of Tamil weekly ‘Ananada Vikatan’) was the owner of the Studios. Subbu was the No.2. at Gemini Studios – a Brahmin, had the ability to look cheerful at all times, could be ‘inspired when commanded’, was tailor-made for films, had a separate identity as a poet and actor, had a genuine love for bothers, was charitable, always seen with the Boss, attached to Story.

Department. Story Department – assembly of poets and writers wore khadi.

A lawyer(legal adviser) – referred to as ‘the opposite’- caused the end of a brief and the brilliant career of a talented actress, looked ‘alone and helpless’, a man of cold logic in a crowd of dreamers, close to the Boss, wore pants, coat and a tie, attached to Story Department, lost his job when the Story Department was closed down.

Gemini studios –a favourite haunt of poets, an excellent mess which supplied good coffee, Congress rule meant prohibition, almost everyone radiated leisure, wore Khadi and worshipped Gandhi, averse to Communism.

Visit of MRA (a kind of counter-movement to International Communism) in 1952- presented two plays ‘The Forgotten Factor’ and ‘Jotham Valley’ in a professional manner impressed Madras and Tamil drama community.

Another visitor – a poet from England, tall man, very English, addressed ‘a more dazed and silent audience’, visit remained an unexplained mystery, staff did not know whether he was a poet or an editor. Author’s conviction about prose-writers –‘prose writing is for the patient, persistent, persevering drudge’, short story contest by a British periodical ‘The Encounter’-found in the British Council Library almost untouched by readers’, discovered Stephen Spender was the editor.

The author bought ‘The God That Failed’ years later –six essays describing the disillusionment of six eminent men of letters with Communism, Stephen Spender one among them, the author suddenly realized the relevance of his visit to Gemini studios.

Read the extracts given below and attempt the questions that follow:

1. 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. 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.

Questions

(i) How did the make-up room get the look of a hair-cutting salon?
(a) A lot of hair-cutting was going on in the make-up room.
(b) Most of the make-up men were barbers and slowly they gave it a look of a salon.
(c) It had lights at all angles and half a dozen large mirrors.
(d) People came to the make-up room to get their hair cut and trimmed.

Answer: C

(ii) How did those subjected to make-up suffer a fiery misery?
Answer: The lights were all incandescent lights and the heat they produced was terrible

(iii) Why was there national integration long before A.I.R and Doordarshan in the make-up department?
(a) Make-up of different states were practised here.
(b) They did make up for actors and actresses from different states
(c) The staff consisted of a Bengali, a Maharashtrian and an Andhra, a Madras Indian Christian, an Anglo-Burmese and Tamils.
(d) The staff studied the various types of makeup from different states and applied them on the actors.

Answer: C

(iv) Why did the make up men make the actors look like hideous crimson hued monsters?
(a) They had a lot of make-up potions and lotions and wanted to use them.
(b) It was indoor shooting and heavy make-up was needed to look good in the movies.
(c) They loved putting on make-up and plastered it on their faces.
(d) They thought they were looking very beautiful and presentable with it, so they applied more and more.

Answer: B

(v) Where was the make-up room located?
(a) In Chennai
(b) In the Gemini Studio
(c) In Mumbai
(d) In Andhra Pradesh

Answer: B

(vi) The Bengali make-up man left because
(a) the weather troubled him
(b) he became too proud of his fame
(c) he became too fat
(d) he became too tall

Answer: B

2. This man of the make-up department was convinced that all his woes, ignominy and neglect were due to Kothamangalam Subbu. Subbu was the No. 2 at Gemini Studios. He couldn’t have had a more encouraging opening in films than our grown-up make-up boy had. On the contrary he must have had to face more uncertain and difficult times, for when he began his career, there were no firmly established film producing companies or studios. Even in the matter of education, specially formal education, Subbu couldn’t have had an appreciable lead over our boy. But by virtue of being born a Brahmin — a virtue, indeed!— he must have had exposure to more affluent situations and people. He had the ability to look cheerful at all times even after having had a hand in a flop film. He always had work for somebody — he could never do things on his own— but his sense of loyalty made him identify himself with his principal completely and turn his entire creativity to his principal’s advantage.

Questions

(i) What was the office boy from the make-up department convinced of Subbu?
Answer: He was convinced that all his woes, ignominy and neglect was due to Subbu

(ii) What is the appreciable lead that Subbu had over the make-up department office boy?
(a) He had a more encouraging opening in films.
(b) He did not have to face uncertainties and difficult times like the office boy.
(c) He was better educated than the office boy.
(d) He had the virtue of being born a Brahmin.

Answer: D

(iii) What was unique about Subbu?
(a) He always had a frown on his forehead.
(b) He looked cheerful all times even if he had a hand in flop film.
(c) He was always cutting papers and sticking them in a file.
(d) He did not have a single good word to say to anyone.

Answer: B

(iv) How did Subbu work at Gemini Studios?
(a) All his creativity was towards his principal’s advantage.
(b) He was seen lazing around doing nothing for hours.
(c) He set himself up to supervise the office boy of the make-up department.
(d) He was a story writer and was always writing new scripts.

Answer: A

(v) What does the expression ‘Subbu was the No. 2 at the Gemini studios’, mean?
Answer: It means that Subbu was the 2nd important person in the studio.

(vi) Subbu was ‘tailor-made’ for film because of his
(a) creativity and resourcefulness
(b) cheerful personality
(c) loyalty to his principal
(d) involvement with all parts of film-making

Answer: A

3. They weren’t very good on the trapeze and their acquaintance with animals was only at the dinner table, but they presented two plays in a most professional manner. Their ‘Jotham Valley’ and ‘The Forgotten Factor’ ran several shows in Madras and along with the other citizens of the city, the Gemini family of six hundred saw the plays over and over again. The message of the plays were usually plain and simple homilies, but the sets and costumes were first-rate. Madras and the Tamil drama community were terribly impressed and for some years almost all Tamil plays had a scene of sunrise and sunset in the manner of ‘Jotham Valley’ with a bare stage, a white background curtain and a tune played on the flute. It was some years later that I learnt that the MRA was a kind of countermovement to international Communism and the big bosses of Madras like Mr. Vasan simply played into their hands.

Questions

(i) Why were Moral Re-Armament army not good on the trapeze?
(a) While doing their act on the trapeze they kept falling down.
(b) The trapeze was not tied properly and thus they could not perform well.
(c) They were not a circus group, they were a theatre group.
(d) Their idea was to make people laugh while performing so they kept falling down.

Answer: C

(ii) What was admirable about the theatre plays of Moral Re-armament army?
Answer: Their set and costumes were first-rate and the audience was terribly impressed by them.

(iii) What did the Tamil plays copy from the MRA?
Answer: The Tamil plays copied from the MRA a scene of sunrise and sunset with a bare stage.

(iv) Why did the big bosses of Madras like Mr. Vasan simply play into the hands of the M.R.A.?
(a) They were international and represented many nations.
(b) They put up plays which the big bosses of Madras highly appreciated.
(c) They were a kind of counter-movement to international communism.
(d) They were the best comedy theatre roaming round the whole world.

Answer: C

(v) ‘Simple homilies‘ means ........
(a) stories about homes
(b) a tedious moralizing lecture
(c) an exciting story
(d) a horror story

Answer: B

(vi) The tone of the writer in these lines is....
(a) ironical
(b) humorous
(c) sad
(d) cheerful

Answer: B

4. And years later, when I was out of Gemini Studios and I had much time but not much money, anything at a reduced price attracted my attention. On the footpath in front of the Madras Mount Road Post Office, there was a pile of brand new books for fifty paise each. Actually they were copies of the same book, an elegant paperback of American origin. ‘Special low-priced student edition, in connection with the 50th Anniversary of the Russian Revolution’, I paid fifty paise and picked up a copy of the book, The God That Failed. Six eminent men of letters in six separate essays described ‘their journeys into Communism and their disillusioned return’.

Questions

(i) What was the book “The God that Failed” all about?
Answer: It was the book of essays by six authors about their journey to communism and their disillusioned return.

(ii) Why did the book assume tremendous importance for the author?
(a) One of the writers was Ignazio Silione
(b) One of the writers was Stephen Spender.
(c) One of the writers was Richard Wright.
(d) One of the writers was Louis Fischer.

Answer: B

(iii) What enlightenment did the author get?
(a) He felt sorry for Stephen Spender.
(b) He now understood why Stephen spender came to Gemini Studios.
(c) He understood why the office boy was always unhappy about Subbu.
(d) He understood why he himself had to keep tearing papers and gluing them in a file.

Answer: B

(iv) Who was the “God That Failed”?
(a) The big bosses of Madras Gemini studios.
(b) Stephen Spender
(c) Subbu
(d) Communism

Answer: D

(v) ‘Six eminent men of letters means ....
(a) six famous people
(b) six men
(c) six well-known writers
(d) six famous letters writers

Answer: C

(vi) Why was the book low-priced?
Answer: The book was low priced because it was printed in memory of the Russians Revolution.

5. His success in films overshadowed and dwarfed his literary achievements-or so his critics felt. He composed several truly original ‘story poems’ in folk refrain and diction and also wrote a sprawling novel Thillana Mohanambal with dozens of very deftly etched characters. He quite successfully recreated the mood and manner of the Devadasis of the early 20th century. He was an amazing actor-he never aspired to the lead roles-but whatever subsidiary role he played in any of the films, he performed better than the supposed main players. He had a genuine love for anyone he came across and his house was a permanent residence for dozens of near and far relations and acquaintances.

Questions

(i) Which of these statements is NOT TRUE about Subbu?
(a) His literary accomplishments stole the limelight from his films.
(b) He was a gifted poet and writer and his literary works were noteworthy.
(c) He was selfless in nature and was empathetic towards others.
(d) He never hankered after lead roles and performed minor roles in films.

Answer: D

(ii) The word ‘sprawling’ has been used with the word ‘novel’. Pick the option with which the word ‘sprawling’ CANNOT be used.
(a) Metropolis
(b) Handwriting
(c) Campus
(d) Portrait

Answer: D

(iii) The phrase ‘deftly etched’ shows that Subbu
(a) created the roles delicately.
(b) was skilful in creating the characters.
(c) pondered beyond necessity about the characters.
(d) gave very little thought to the characters.

Answer: B

(iv) Pick the option that best describes Subbu according to the extract.
1. Benevolent 2. Powerful
3. accomplished 4. Witty
5. Generous 6. Temperamental
(a) 4, 5 & 6
(b) 2, 3 & 4
(c) 1,3 & 5
(d) 3 ,4 & 6

Answer: C

(v) What does the expression ‘dwarfed his literary achievements’ means ?
Answer: It means that his writing ability was made less important.

(vi) Another word for ‘subsidiary role’ is.....
(a) supporting
(b) leading
(c) comic
(d) villanous

Answer: A

6. Barring the office boys and a couple of clerks, everybody else at the Studios radiated leisure, a pre-requisite for poetry. Most of them wore khadi and worshipped Gandhiji but beyond that they had not the faintest appreciation for political thought of any kind. Naturally, they were all averse to the term ‘Communism’. A communist was a godless man-he had no filial or conjugal love; he had no compunction about killing his own parents or his children; he was always out to cause and spread unrest and violence among innocent and ignorant people. Such notions, which prevailed everywhere else in South India at that time also, naturally, floated about vaguely among the khadi-clad poets of Gemini Studios. Evidence of it was soon forthcoming

Questions

(i) Pick the option that uses the same figure of speech as ‘A communist is a godless man.’
(a) She is as determined as Gandhi when it is a fight against injustice.
(b) She is a Gandhi when she raises her voice against ‘hinsa’ or violence.
(c) She, like Gandhi, feels that the Earth is crying for deliverance.
(d) She lives a life of opulence and calls herself a follower of Gandhi.

Answer: B

(ii) Based on the extract, choose the correct option with reference to the two statements given below.
Statement 1: At Gemini Studios, the poets had a profound knowledge about Communists.
Statement 2: Communists were responsible for anarchy and discontent in the country.
(a) Statement 1 is true but Statement 2 is false.
(b) Statement 1 is false but Statement 2 is true.
(c) Both Statement 1 and Statement 2 cannot be inferred.
(d) Both Statement 1 and Statement 2 can be inferred.

Answer: C

(iii) Why do you think leisure is a pre-requisite for poetry?
(a) Poetry means freedom of expression.
(b) One can enjoy poetry when there’s free time.
(c) In order to write poetry, one needs free time.
(d) Poetry means freedom from work.

Answer: B

(iv) Asokamitran says that leisure is a pre-requisite for poetry. He says this because poets
(a) need to relax for a period of time before composing lines.
(b) maintain a leisured pace in all tasks they do.
(c) are creative and need to have free time to weave their thoughts.
(d) begin poetic compositions in rushed way and end in a relaxed manner.

Answer: B

(v) What does the phrase ‘radiated leisure’ mean?
Answer: It means ‘enjoying free time’.

(vi) ‘he had no compunction’ means ....
(a) He did not have sorrowful feelings.
(b) He did not think twice before doing something.
(c) He was thoughtful and careful before taking any action.
(d) He was indifferent to the activities taking place around them.

Answer: C