Chapter: Poets and Pancakes

By- Asokamitran

NOTES

Gemini Studio

Gemini Studio was one of India’s pioneer movie factories. Situated in the present-day Chennai, owned
by S.S Vasan and worked by over 600 staff, the Gemini Studio made movies for Tamil Nadu and other
southern Indian states. Pancake was the makeup material used by the Gemini Studio.

Asokamitran

Asokamitran was one of the staff whose job was to collect information such as news events from
newspapers and magazines and to paste them in files. The other staff considered his job out of place
and most of them thought so high of themselves. Here are some of the Interesting staffs of GS.

Office Boy

Office Boy was a grown-up man in the Makeup Department of the GS. He was in charge of the crowd
makeup. He applied pancake on their faces with the help of a dipped paint brush. Though his job was
quite an easy one, the office boy considered him to be a greatly skilled artist.

Subbu

Kothamangalam Subbu was another clerk. He was not as educated, as fortunate and as supported by as
the Office Boy, yet he reached the top of the GS. He was a man of amazing genius. He was able to direct
the directors. He suggested dozens of ways to shoot a certain scene when the director failed to find one.
He acted better than the heroes. He wrote incredible poems. Though he was able to write more
complicated ones that could raise him to the status of a great poet, Subbu preferred writing them in
simple Tamil to enlighten the majority of Tamil people. Besides, he supported his far and near relatives.
But he had only enemies everywhere because he was very much close to the boss, Vasan.

About the Author

Asokamitran (22 September 1931-23 March 2017) was a famous Tamil writer and Sahitya Akademie,
winner. He was one of the few writers who wrote fluently in both Tamil and English. In a career
spanning over six decades, he wrote 8 novels, 20 novellas and hundreds of short stories, on a wide range
of issues.

He spent the Initial years of his career in the famous Gemini Studios of Chennai. Although he was
entrusted with the clerical task of cutting and pasting newspaper articles, he learned a lot about the
functioning of Gemini Studios, which he humorously depicted in his autobiographical book My Years
with Boss.

About the Chapter

For nearly thirty years from 1940, the Gemini Studios of Madras (Chennai) was the most influential film-
producing organization of India and its founder, the brilliant multi-faceted entrepreneur S.S. Vasan lent
substance and quality to the rather fragile and unpredictable movie business. The Gemini emblem of
two small boys with bugles was true to Vasan’s slogan for the Studios, ‘when the bugles blow, there is a
great show,’ Gemini films entertained millions all over India and abroad.

Sahitya Akademi award-winning Tamil writer Asokamitran worked for the Gemini Studios from 1952 to
1966. A full twenty years after he ‘renounced’ films, poet-editor Pritish Nandy persuaded Asokamitran
to record his reminiscences and the result was a series of articles making up My Years with Boss. The
book covers only five of his fourteen years with the Studios but captures that phase of Indian movie
business when the key factors of the box office were imperceptibly shifting from the studios to the stars.

My Years with Boss is one of the most unusual books to be written about the entertainment world and
clearly indicates the enormous impact of the movies on virtually every aspect of life in India.

The author’s ability to capture the life and breathe of people and events, and his puckish narrative make
this a brief but special book of film history.”

Theme

‘Poets and Pancakes’ fondly remembers the glorious Gemini Studios which was the hub of activity for all
the people associated with films. It is a sarcastic and humorous depiction of the various people who
visited the place. The extract is autobiographical in nature and subtly hints at the changes brought in by
the passage of time.

The author has used an easy and conversational style to sketch the humorous image of what went on at
the studio. The entire extract is marked by subtle satire, a gorgeous undercurrent of humour and an
engrossing portrayal of people who thrive despite hardships. The story focuses on the many aspects of
contemporary life and on human situations and tendencies.

Summary :
‘Pancakes’ was the brand name of a make-up material. The Gemini Studios bought a lot of it. Many well-
known dresses must have used that material. It was used by make-up men to turn decent looking
players into hideous looking monsters. In fact, it was because most of the shooting of a film was done on
the sets. The sets and the studios lights required that every pore of players’ faces be closed. A strict
hierarchy was maintained in the make-up department to make the player look ugly. The chief make-up
man made the hero and heroine ugly. His senior assistant made the second hero and heroine ugly and
so forth. It was the office boy’s job to make the crowd players ugly.

The make-up department had an office boy. He was not a boy but a forty years’ old man. He had joined
the studios years ago. He believed that he had a great talent and hoped to become a star actor, director,
screen writer or lyrics writer. But he was frustrated. He blamed his disgrace on Gemini Studio. The
make-up department was at the upstairs of the building that was said to have been Robert Clive’s
stables. The make-up room looked like a hair cutting salon because it had large mirrors and lights. The
lights gave out intense heat. The person who underwent make-up had a miserable experience of being
scorched like that of being in a hell.

The make-up department presented a picture of national integration long before AIR began
broadcasting programmes on national integration. In the beginning, the department was headed by a
Bengali. He was succeeded by a Maharashtrian who was assisted by people from all parts of India.

The nature of author’s job appeared to be insignificant. He was usually seen tearing newspapers.
Everybody would walk to his cubicle and want to give him some work to do. The office boy would come
in to recite his poems. He Wished to impress the author by his talent and how it was going waste on
account of Subbu.

The office boy was frustrated. Probably he was jealous of Subbu’s stature. Subbu was very close to Boss.
When Boss had any difficulty in presenting a scene in a film, Subbu could suggest a number of practical
ideas.

Subbu was a good poet too. He could write poems of high order. But he deliberately suppressed his
talent to write for the masses. He was a novelist too. He had written a novel in which he recreated the
mood and manner of Devadasis of early 20th century. He had created life-like characters too.

Subbu was an excellent actor. But he never aspired for lead roles. But whatever minor roles he played,
he acted better than the main players.
Subbu loved all. Several friends and relatives stayed with him for long periods. But Subbu did not care.
He never gave a thought to the money he spent to support them. But the office boy hated him. Perhaps
Subbu appeared to be a sycophant.

Though Subbu was always seen with the Boss, he was a member of the story department. Besides
writers and poets in the story department there was a lawyer too. Officially he was known as legal
adviser. But people called him by an opposite name. Once the legal adviser unwittingly, ruined the
career of a talented actress.

One day the actress, who was not seasoned in worldly wisdom, lost her temper on the sets. She spoke
angrily against the producer. The legal adviser switched on the recording equipment. When she paused,
he played back the record. The actress was dumb founded to hear her own voice. Though she had said
nothing offensive, she never appeared on the stage again.

The legal adviser wore trousers, a shirt, and a tie. Sometimes he wore a coat too. He appeared off
among khadi clad poets and writers. The poets and writers worshiped Gandhiji though they had no
affiliation to his ideas. But they were averse to communism. They had a notion that a communist loved
nobody. He was an anarchist.

The feelings against communism were widespread in South India. Moral Rearmament Army was a sort
of anti-communism movement. It visited Gemini Studios in 1952. They were about 200 people belonging
to at least 20 nationalities. They presented two plays ‘Jotham Valley’ and ‘The Forgotten Factor’ in the
most professional manner. The Gemini family of 600 and the citizens of Madras were greatly impressed
by their plays.

Their message was simple, but the sets and costumes were excellent. For many years, the Tamil drama
imitated the sunrise and sunset scenes presented by MRA. The scenes were presented on a bare stage
with white background and a tune played on the flute. But the MRA did not influence the outlook of the
Gemini bosses. The enterprises continued unchanged. The staff had enjoyed hosting MRA.

A few months later, Gemini Studio received another guest. It was an Englishman. Nobody knew who he
was. Some said he was a poet. But he was not one of the poets known to them. Some believed that he
was an editor because the top men of The Hindu were taking the initiative. But he was not the editor of
any of the newspapers which the staff of Gemini Studio had heard of.

The Englishman was welcomed by the Boss, Mr. Vasan. He read out a long speech talking of freedom
and democracy. Then the Englishman spoke. Nobody could understand what he said. His accent had
made it impossible. But they were baffled. They could not understand the purpose of his visit. They
made Tamil films for simple people who could not be expected to have any interest in English poetry.
The visit of the Englishman remained a mystery.

The author saw a notice In The Hindu. The Encounter, a British periodical, was organizing a short story
contest. The author had never heard of the periodical. He wanted to send an entry. He wanted to have
some information about it before he sent the entry. He visited the British Council Library. There he
found copies of The Encounter. He learned that its editor was Stephen Spender, who had visited the
Gemini Studios. After a few years, the author had retired. One day, he saw a pile of low-priced
paperback edition of The God that Failed. He bought a copy. It contained six different essays of six
different writers. They described writers’ journeys to communism and the disillusioned return. One of
the writers was Stephen Spender. The whole mystery of Spender’s visit was cleared. Mr. Vasan was not
interested in his Poetry but was interested on his views on communism.

*NOTES*

Gemini Studio

Gemini Studio was one of India’s pioneer movie factories. Situated in the present-day Chennai, owned
by S.S Vasan and worked by over 600 staff, the Gemini Studio made movies for Tamil Nadu and other
southern Indian states. Pancake was the makeup material used by the Gemini Studio.

Asokamitran

Asokamitran was one of the staff whose job was to collect information such as news events from
newspapers and magazines and to paste them in files. The other staff considered his job out of place
and most of them thought so high of themselves. Here are some of the interesting staffs of Gemini
Studio.

Office Boy

Office Boy was a grown-up man in the Makeup Department of the GS. He was in charge of the crowd
makeup. He applied pancake on their faces with the help of a dipped paint brush. Though his job was
quite an easy one, the office boy considered him to be a greatly skilled artist.

Subbu

Kothamangalam Subbu was another clerk. He was not as educated, as fortunate and as supported by as
the Office Boy, yet he reached the top of the GS. He was a man of amazing genius. He was able to direct
the directors. He suggested dozens of ways to shoot a certain scene when the director failed to find one.
He acted better than the heroes. He wrote incredible poems. Though he was able to write more
complicated ones that could raise him to the status of a great poet, Subbu preferred writing them in
simple Tamil to enlighten the majority of Tamil people. Besides, he supported his far and near relatives.
But he had only enemies everywhere because he was very much close to the boss, Vasan.

Legal Advisor

The legal advisor worked in the Story Department. He was a lawyer and provided legal advices to the
writers, yet he was known as the illegal advisor. The following incident is one reason that gave him that
name. Once a shooting was under progress. The heroine, a highly emotional girl, got angry with the
director and producer. While the whole set stood stunned at this, the legal advisor recorded her voice
without her permission and made her listen to the playback, thus resulting the end of a rising actress.

Poets and writers

Gemini Studios had some great poets like Harindranath Chatopadhyaya and a few others. Most of the
insignificant poets considered so great of themselves. They had no great talent, no great creativity, no
political views yet they assumed the airs of the greatest poets, wasting Vasan’s money and time. They
believed Gandhiji to be the last word of politics and had developed an aversion to Communism.

Communism and anti-communism

Communism was a new political order that was spreading throughout the world, especially in Asian
countries. Communism preached equality of people and abolition of poverty and class divisions while it
discouraged private ownership. But Communism won a negative impression due the Capitalist countries
such as America.
MRA

MRA or Moral Rearmament Army was an international team of actors and actresses that spread anti-
communist feelings throughout the world. The MRA came to Chennai and saw how influential Gemini
Studios in the south of India was. The team got permission from Vasan to stage their plays. Vasan was
only happy to give them permission because he hoped that his staff would get inspiration from the
international team. But little did Vasan know of their intentions. MRA staged their plays with hidden
anti-Communist messages and went away and it was yet after some time that Vasan realized that he had
been fooled.

Stephen Spender

Why should Vasan be fooled if an organization spread anti-communist messages in Chennai? It appears
that Vasan himself was a Communist! Or, he too had an experience of a disillusioned abandoning of
Communism. The author has not given us a hint about this and therefore we have to different opinions:

Crisis

Vasan as a Communist:

If so, Vasan felt terribly bad for being played into the hands of the MRA that left a deep anti-Communist
impression upon his staff. He therefore decided to bring back the Communist atmosphere in his studio
and for this he invited a communist poet to deliver a speech on how great Communism was.

Vasan as an anti-Communist:
If SS Vasan was an anti-Communist, he was the one who invited the MRA to the Gemini Studios. Later,
when he saw that MRA had successfully spread anticommunism among his staff, he wanted to
strengthen the new notions in them by inviting another anti-Communist and therefore he invited
Spender.

Spender’s Speech

Anyway, Stephen Spender, who was once a prominent communist editor and poet from England, came
to the studio and gave his speech. His lecture was about Communism on one side and about his
struggles to establish as a poet on the other. Whatever he spoke was great, hot, exciting, and inspiring,
but what use, his accent was such terrible one that none of the Gemini staff could clearly understand
what Spender had spoken. They fell into shame for not being able to understand the poet and wished
not to meet him again.

Asokamitran meeting SSpender-

The lesson ends with two incidents in which Asokamitran, our author, met Spender; not face to face, but
in two different ways.