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.
