NCERT Textbook - Poets And Pancakes

 Page 1


Poets and Pancakes
About the author
Asokamitran (1931–2017), a Tamil writer, recounts his years 
at Gemini Studios in his book My Years with Boss which talks 
of the influence of movies on every aspect of life in India. The 
Gemini Studios, located in Chennai, was set up in 1940. It was 
one of the most influential film-producing organisations of India 
in the early days of Indian film-making. Its founder was S.S. 
Vasan. The duty of Asokamitran in Gemini Studios was to cut out 
newspaper clippings on a wide variety of subjects and store them 
in files. Many of these had to be written out by hand. Although 
he performed an insignificant function he was the most well-
informed of all the members of the Gemini family. The following 
is an excerpt from his book My Years with Boss. 
Notice these words and expressions in the text.
Infer their meaning from the context.
??  blew over                      	??  was struck dumb              
??  catapulted into ??  a coat of mail             
??  played into their hands       ??  the favourite haunt
??  heard a bell ringing
Pancake was the brand name of the make-up material that Gemini 
Studios bought in truck-loads. Greta Garbo
1
 must have used it, 
Miss Gohar must have used it, Vyjayantimala
2
 must also have used 
it but Rati Agnihotri may not have even heard of it. The make-up 
department of the Gemini Studios was in the upstairs of a building 
that was believed to have been Robert Clive’s stables. A dozen other 
buildings in the city are said to have been his residence. For his 
1. A Swedish actress, in 1954 she received an Honorary Oscar for her unforgettable screen 
performances. The Guinness Book of World Records named her the most beautiful woman who 
ever lived. She was also voted Best Silent Actress of the country.
2. An Indian actress whose performance was widely appreciated in Bimal Roy’s Devdas. She won 
three Best Actress awards for her acting. She is now an active politician.
6
Chap 6.indd   56 1/15/2025   12:26:36 PM
Reprint 2025-26
Page 2


Poets and Pancakes
About the author
Asokamitran (1931–2017), a Tamil writer, recounts his years 
at Gemini Studios in his book My Years with Boss which talks 
of the influence of movies on every aspect of life in India. The 
Gemini Studios, located in Chennai, was set up in 1940. It was 
one of the most influential film-producing organisations of India 
in the early days of Indian film-making. Its founder was S.S. 
Vasan. The duty of Asokamitran in Gemini Studios was to cut out 
newspaper clippings on a wide variety of subjects and store them 
in files. Many of these had to be written out by hand. Although 
he performed an insignificant function he was the most well-
informed of all the members of the Gemini family. The following 
is an excerpt from his book My Years with Boss. 
Notice these words and expressions in the text.
Infer their meaning from the context.
??  blew over                      	??  was struck dumb              
??  catapulted into ??  a coat of mail             
??  played into their hands       ??  the favourite haunt
??  heard a bell ringing
Pancake was the brand name of the make-up material that Gemini 
Studios bought in truck-loads. Greta Garbo
1
 must have used it, 
Miss Gohar must have used it, Vyjayantimala
2
 must also have used 
it but Rati Agnihotri may not have even heard of it. The make-up 
department of the Gemini Studios was in the upstairs of a building 
that was believed to have been Robert Clive’s stables. A dozen other 
buildings in the city are said to have been his residence. For his 
1. A Swedish actress, in 1954 she received an Honorary Oscar for her unforgettable screen 
performances. The Guinness Book of World Records named her the most beautiful woman who 
ever lived. She was also voted Best Silent Actress of the country.
2. An Indian actress whose performance was widely appreciated in Bimal Roy’s Devdas. She won 
three Best Actress awards for her acting. She is now an active politician.
6
Chap 6.indd   56 1/15/2025   12:26:36 PM
Reprint 2025-26
Poets and Pancakes/57
brief life and an even briefer stay in Madras, 
Robert Clive seems to have done a lot of 
moving, besides fighting some impossible 
battles in remote corners of India and 
marrying a maiden in St. Mary’s Church in 
Fort St. George in Madras.
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. 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’!) On the days when there was a crowd-shooting, you 
could see him mixing his paint in a giant vessel and slapping it on 
the crowd players. The idea was to close every pore on the surface 
of the face in the process of applying make-up. He wasn’t exactly a 
‘boy’; he was in his early forties, having entered the studios years 
ago in the hope of becoming a star actor or a top screen writer, 
director or lyrics writer. He was a bit of a poet.
Chap 6.indd   57 1/15/2025   12:26:36 PM
Reprint 2025-26
Page 3


Poets and Pancakes
About the author
Asokamitran (1931–2017), a Tamil writer, recounts his years 
at Gemini Studios in his book My Years with Boss which talks 
of the influence of movies on every aspect of life in India. The 
Gemini Studios, located in Chennai, was set up in 1940. It was 
one of the most influential film-producing organisations of India 
in the early days of Indian film-making. Its founder was S.S. 
Vasan. The duty of Asokamitran in Gemini Studios was to cut out 
newspaper clippings on a wide variety of subjects and store them 
in files. Many of these had to be written out by hand. Although 
he performed an insignificant function he was the most well-
informed of all the members of the Gemini family. The following 
is an excerpt from his book My Years with Boss. 
Notice these words and expressions in the text.
Infer their meaning from the context.
??  blew over                      	??  was struck dumb              
??  catapulted into ??  a coat of mail             
??  played into their hands       ??  the favourite haunt
??  heard a bell ringing
Pancake was the brand name of the make-up material that Gemini 
Studios bought in truck-loads. Greta Garbo
1
 must have used it, 
Miss Gohar must have used it, Vyjayantimala
2
 must also have used 
it but Rati Agnihotri may not have even heard of it. The make-up 
department of the Gemini Studios was in the upstairs of a building 
that was believed to have been Robert Clive’s stables. A dozen other 
buildings in the city are said to have been his residence. For his 
1. A Swedish actress, in 1954 she received an Honorary Oscar for her unforgettable screen 
performances. The Guinness Book of World Records named her the most beautiful woman who 
ever lived. She was also voted Best Silent Actress of the country.
2. An Indian actress whose performance was widely appreciated in Bimal Roy’s Devdas. She won 
three Best Actress awards for her acting. She is now an active politician.
6
Chap 6.indd   56 1/15/2025   12:26:36 PM
Reprint 2025-26
Poets and Pancakes/57
brief life and an even briefer stay in Madras, 
Robert Clive seems to have done a lot of 
moving, besides fighting some impossible 
battles in remote corners of India and 
marrying a maiden in St. Mary’s Church in 
Fort St. George in Madras.
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. 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’!) On the days when there was a crowd-shooting, you 
could see him mixing his paint in a giant vessel and slapping it on 
the crowd players. The idea was to close every pore on the surface 
of the face in the process of applying make-up. He wasn’t exactly a 
‘boy’; he was in his early forties, having entered the studios years 
ago in the hope of becoming a star actor or a top screen writer, 
director or lyrics writer. He was a bit of a poet.
Chap 6.indd   57 1/15/2025   12:26:36 PM
Reprint 2025-26
58/Flamingo
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. 
In all instances of frustration, you 
will always find the anger directed 
towards a single person openly or covertly 
and 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. He was tailor-made for films. Here was a man who could 
be inspired when commanded. “The rat fights the tigress underwater 
and kills her but takes pity on the cubs and tends them lovingly — I 
don’t know how to do the scene,” the producer would say and Subbu 
1.  What does the writer mean 
by ‘the fiery misery’ of those 
subjected to make-up’?
2.   What is the example of 
national integration that the 
author refers to?
3.   What work did the ‘office boy’ 
do in the Gemini Studios? 
Why did he join the studios? 
Why was he disappointed?
4.   Why did the author appear 
to be doing nothing  at the 
studios?
Chap 6.indd   58 1/15/2025   12:26:36 PM
Reprint 2025-26
Page 4


Poets and Pancakes
About the author
Asokamitran (1931–2017), a Tamil writer, recounts his years 
at Gemini Studios in his book My Years with Boss which talks 
of the influence of movies on every aspect of life in India. The 
Gemini Studios, located in Chennai, was set up in 1940. It was 
one of the most influential film-producing organisations of India 
in the early days of Indian film-making. Its founder was S.S. 
Vasan. The duty of Asokamitran in Gemini Studios was to cut out 
newspaper clippings on a wide variety of subjects and store them 
in files. Many of these had to be written out by hand. Although 
he performed an insignificant function he was the most well-
informed of all the members of the Gemini family. The following 
is an excerpt from his book My Years with Boss. 
Notice these words and expressions in the text.
Infer their meaning from the context.
??  blew over                      	??  was struck dumb              
??  catapulted into ??  a coat of mail             
??  played into their hands       ??  the favourite haunt
??  heard a bell ringing
Pancake was the brand name of the make-up material that Gemini 
Studios bought in truck-loads. Greta Garbo
1
 must have used it, 
Miss Gohar must have used it, Vyjayantimala
2
 must also have used 
it but Rati Agnihotri may not have even heard of it. The make-up 
department of the Gemini Studios was in the upstairs of a building 
that was believed to have been Robert Clive’s stables. A dozen other 
buildings in the city are said to have been his residence. For his 
1. A Swedish actress, in 1954 she received an Honorary Oscar for her unforgettable screen 
performances. The Guinness Book of World Records named her the most beautiful woman who 
ever lived. She was also voted Best Silent Actress of the country.
2. An Indian actress whose performance was widely appreciated in Bimal Roy’s Devdas. She won 
three Best Actress awards for her acting. She is now an active politician.
6
Chap 6.indd   56 1/15/2025   12:26:36 PM
Reprint 2025-26
Poets and Pancakes/57
brief life and an even briefer stay in Madras, 
Robert Clive seems to have done a lot of 
moving, besides fighting some impossible 
battles in remote corners of India and 
marrying a maiden in St. Mary’s Church in 
Fort St. George in Madras.
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. 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’!) On the days when there was a crowd-shooting, you 
could see him mixing his paint in a giant vessel and slapping it on 
the crowd players. The idea was to close every pore on the surface 
of the face in the process of applying make-up. He wasn’t exactly a 
‘boy’; he was in his early forties, having entered the studios years 
ago in the hope of becoming a star actor or a top screen writer, 
director or lyrics writer. He was a bit of a poet.
Chap 6.indd   57 1/15/2025   12:26:36 PM
Reprint 2025-26
58/Flamingo
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. 
In all instances of frustration, you 
will always find the anger directed 
towards a single person openly or covertly 
and 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. He was tailor-made for films. Here was a man who could 
be inspired when commanded. “The rat fights the tigress underwater 
and kills her but takes pity on the cubs and tends them lovingly — I 
don’t know how to do the scene,” the producer would say and Subbu 
1.  What does the writer mean 
by ‘the fiery misery’ of those 
subjected to make-up’?
2.   What is the example of 
national integration that the 
author refers to?
3.   What work did the ‘office boy’ 
do in the Gemini Studios? 
Why did he join the studios? 
Why was he disappointed?
4.   Why did the author appear 
to be doing nothing  at the 
studios?
Chap 6.indd   58 1/15/2025   12:26:36 PM
Reprint 2025-26
Poets and Pancakes/59
would come out with four ways of the rat pouring affection on its 
victim’s offspring. “Good, but I am not sure it is effective enough,” 
the producer would say and in a minute Subbu would come out 
with fourteen more alternatives. Film-making must have been and 
was so easy with a man like Subbu around and if ever there was 
a man who gave direction and definition to Gemini Studios during 
its golden years, it was Subbu. Subbu had a separate identity 
as a poet and though he was certainly capable of more complex 
and higher forms, he deliberately chose to address his poetry 
to the masses. 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. It seemed 
against Subbu’s nature to be even conscious that he was feeding 
and supporting so many of them. Such a charitable and improvident 
man, and yet he had enemies! Was it because he seemed so close 
and intimate with The Boss? Or was it his general demeanour 
that resembled a sycophant’s? Or his readiness to say nice things 
about everything? In any case, there was this man in the make-up 
department who would wish the direst things for Subbu.
You saw Subbu always with The Boss but in the attendance 
rolls, he was grouped under a department called the Story 
Department comprising a lawyer and an assembly of writers and 
poets. The lawyer was also officially known as the legal adviser, but 
everybody referred to him as the opposite. An extremely talented 
actress, who was also extremely temperamental, once blew over on 
the sets. While everyone stood stunned, the lawyer quietly switched 
on the recording equipment. When the actress paused for breath, 
the lawyer said to her, “One minute, please,” and played back the 
recording. There was nothing incriminating or unmentionably foul 
about the actress’s tirade against the producer. But when she heard 
Chap 6.indd   59 1/15/2025   12:26:36 PM
Reprint 2025-26
Page 5


Poets and Pancakes
About the author
Asokamitran (1931–2017), a Tamil writer, recounts his years 
at Gemini Studios in his book My Years with Boss which talks 
of the influence of movies on every aspect of life in India. The 
Gemini Studios, located in Chennai, was set up in 1940. It was 
one of the most influential film-producing organisations of India 
in the early days of Indian film-making. Its founder was S.S. 
Vasan. The duty of Asokamitran in Gemini Studios was to cut out 
newspaper clippings on a wide variety of subjects and store them 
in files. Many of these had to be written out by hand. Although 
he performed an insignificant function he was the most well-
informed of all the members of the Gemini family. The following 
is an excerpt from his book My Years with Boss. 
Notice these words and expressions in the text.
Infer their meaning from the context.
??  blew over                      	??  was struck dumb              
??  catapulted into ??  a coat of mail             
??  played into their hands       ??  the favourite haunt
??  heard a bell ringing
Pancake was the brand name of the make-up material that Gemini 
Studios bought in truck-loads. Greta Garbo
1
 must have used it, 
Miss Gohar must have used it, Vyjayantimala
2
 must also have used 
it but Rati Agnihotri may not have even heard of it. The make-up 
department of the Gemini Studios was in the upstairs of a building 
that was believed to have been Robert Clive’s stables. A dozen other 
buildings in the city are said to have been his residence. For his 
1. A Swedish actress, in 1954 she received an Honorary Oscar for her unforgettable screen 
performances. The Guinness Book of World Records named her the most beautiful woman who 
ever lived. She was also voted Best Silent Actress of the country.
2. An Indian actress whose performance was widely appreciated in Bimal Roy’s Devdas. She won 
three Best Actress awards for her acting. She is now an active politician.
6
Chap 6.indd   56 1/15/2025   12:26:36 PM
Reprint 2025-26
Poets and Pancakes/57
brief life and an even briefer stay in Madras, 
Robert Clive seems to have done a lot of 
moving, besides fighting some impossible 
battles in remote corners of India and 
marrying a maiden in St. Mary’s Church in 
Fort St. George in Madras.
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. 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’!) On the days when there was a crowd-shooting, you 
could see him mixing his paint in a giant vessel and slapping it on 
the crowd players. The idea was to close every pore on the surface 
of the face in the process of applying make-up. He wasn’t exactly a 
‘boy’; he was in his early forties, having entered the studios years 
ago in the hope of becoming a star actor or a top screen writer, 
director or lyrics writer. He was a bit of a poet.
Chap 6.indd   57 1/15/2025   12:26:36 PM
Reprint 2025-26
58/Flamingo
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. 
In all instances of frustration, you 
will always find the anger directed 
towards a single person openly or covertly 
and 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. He was tailor-made for films. Here was a man who could 
be inspired when commanded. “The rat fights the tigress underwater 
and kills her but takes pity on the cubs and tends them lovingly — I 
don’t know how to do the scene,” the producer would say and Subbu 
1.  What does the writer mean 
by ‘the fiery misery’ of those 
subjected to make-up’?
2.   What is the example of 
national integration that the 
author refers to?
3.   What work did the ‘office boy’ 
do in the Gemini Studios? 
Why did he join the studios? 
Why was he disappointed?
4.   Why did the author appear 
to be doing nothing  at the 
studios?
Chap 6.indd   58 1/15/2025   12:26:36 PM
Reprint 2025-26
Poets and Pancakes/59
would come out with four ways of the rat pouring affection on its 
victim’s offspring. “Good, but I am not sure it is effective enough,” 
the producer would say and in a minute Subbu would come out 
with fourteen more alternatives. Film-making must have been and 
was so easy with a man like Subbu around and if ever there was 
a man who gave direction and definition to Gemini Studios during 
its golden years, it was Subbu. Subbu had a separate identity 
as a poet and though he was certainly capable of more complex 
and higher forms, he deliberately chose to address his poetry 
to the masses. 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. It seemed 
against Subbu’s nature to be even conscious that he was feeding 
and supporting so many of them. Such a charitable and improvident 
man, and yet he had enemies! Was it because he seemed so close 
and intimate with The Boss? Or was it his general demeanour 
that resembled a sycophant’s? Or his readiness to say nice things 
about everything? In any case, there was this man in the make-up 
department who would wish the direst things for Subbu.
You saw Subbu always with The Boss but in the attendance 
rolls, he was grouped under a department called the Story 
Department comprising a lawyer and an assembly of writers and 
poets. The lawyer was also officially known as the legal adviser, but 
everybody referred to him as the opposite. An extremely talented 
actress, who was also extremely temperamental, once blew over on 
the sets. While everyone stood stunned, the lawyer quietly switched 
on the recording equipment. When the actress paused for breath, 
the lawyer said to her, “One minute, please,” and played back the 
recording. There was nothing incriminating or unmentionably foul 
about the actress’s tirade against the producer. But when she heard 
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her voice again through the sound equipment, she was struck 
dumb. A girl from the countryside, she hadn’t gone through all 
the stages of worldly experience that generally precede a position 
of importance and sophistication that she had found herself 
catapulted into. She never quite recovered from the terror she felt 
that day. That was the end of a brief and brilliant acting career — 
the legal adviser, who was also a member 
of the Story Department, had unwittingly 
brought about that sad end. 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.
Gemini Studios was the favourite haunt of poets like 
S.D.S.Yogiar
3
, Sangu Subramanyam, Krishna Sastry and 
Harindranath Chattopadhyaya
4
. It had an excellent mess which 
supplied good coffee at all times of the day and for most part of the 
night. Those were the days when Congress rule meant Prohibition 
and meeting over a cup of coffee was rather satisfying entertainment. 
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 
3. A freedom fighter and a national poet.
4. A poet and a playwright.
1.  Why was the office boy 
frustrated? Who did he show 
his anger on?
2.  Who was Subbu’s principal?
3.   Subbu is described as a  
many-sided genius. List four 
of his special abilities.
4.  Why was the legal adviser 
referred to as the opposite by 
others?
5.  What made the lawyer stand 
out from the others at Gemini 
Studios?
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