Chapter 6: Poets and Pancakes

Ans: The make-up room at Gemini Studios looked like a hair-cutting salon with lights at all angles around half a dozen large mirrors. These were incandescent lights that emitted a lot of heat. The actors sitting under these lights had to endure intense heat, which the writer humorously refers to as "fiery misery."

Ans: The make-up department was headed by a Bengali, succeeded by a Maharashtrian, assisted by a Dharwar Kannadiga, an Andhra, a Madras Indian Christian, an Anglo-Burmese, and local Tamils. This diverse mix of people from different states and religions working together in one room is the example of national integration.

Ans: The 'office boy' (who was actually in his forties) was responsible for applying make-up to the crowd players during crowd shooting. He would mix paint in a giant vessel and slap it on their faces. He was disappointed because he had joined the studio hoping to become a star actor, director, or lyricist, but ended up doing a menial job.

Ans: The author's job was to cut newspaper clippings on a wide variety of subjects and file them. Since he was mostly seen tearing newspapers day in and day out, others in the studio (including the Boss) felt he was doing next to nothing compared to the creative work of others.

Ans: He was frustrated because his literary and acting talents were going to waste. He believed he was a victim of neglect. He directed his anger at Kothamangalam Subbu (the No. 2 at the studio), whom he blamed for all his woes and failures.

Ans:

1. He could provide instant solutions for shooting scenes (e.g., how to shoot a tigress killing a rat underwater).
2. He was a poet capable of writing complex poetry but chose to write for the masses.
3. He was an amazing actor who never aspired for lead roles but played subsidiary roles better than the main actors.
4. He was incredibly charitable and fed dozens of relations at his house.

Ans: The main barrier was language and accent. The Englishman (Stephen Spender) spoke with an Oxford accent that the simple Tamil-speaking staff could not understand. Furthermore, the purpose of his visit was a mystery; they couldn't understand why an English poet was visiting a Tamil film studio that made simple melodramas.

Ans: While everyone in the Story Department wore a khadi dhoti and a white khadi shirt (the uniform of the Gandhian era), the legal adviser wore pants, a tie, and sometimes a coat. He looked logical and cold in a crowd of dreamers. Furthermore, while others tried to help, he inadvertently ended the career of a brilliant actress, effectively acting against the department's creative spirit.

Ans: The MRA was a kind of counter-movement to international Communism. They were a group of 200 people from 20 nationalities who presented two plays, *Jotham Valley* and *The Forgotten Factor*. They were welcomed because Gemini Studios was generally anti-Communist, and the plays provided a refreshing break with their professional presentation and good message.

Ans: Years later, when the author bought a cheap book titled *The God That Failed*, he noticed the name of one of the essayists: Stephen Spender. Suddenly, the mystery of the Englishman's visit to Gemini Studios was solved. Spender had visited not as a poet to talk about poetry, but as an anti-Communist intellectual to talk about his disillusionment with Communism. This realization was the "illumination" that cleared the confusion regarding Spender's visit years ago.

Ans: Asokamitran uses gentle satire to describe the studio life. For example:

• The make-up department turning decent-looking people into "hideous crimson hued monsters."
• The description of the office boy who was actually a forty-year-old man.
• The incongruity of an English poet addressing a dazed Tamil audience who didn't understand a word.
• The legal adviser ending an actress's career by simply playing back a recording of her outburst.

Ans: S.S. Vasan, like many influential men in South India at the time, was naturally averse to Communism. The MRA was an anti-Communist organization. Therefore, the Gemini Studios, with its simple people and anti-Communist boss, was the perfect host for them.