Poets and Pancakes

The One Thing

Asokamitran’s My Years with Boss presents Gemini Studios as a miniature world of early Indian cinema, combining artistic creativity with strict hierarchy, difficult working conditions, political attitudes and literary culture. Through humour, satire and a rambling narrative style, the account reveals the people and institutions behind Gemini Studios and its influence on public and cultural life.

Chronology

Who and What

• Asokamitran: A Tamil writer who wrote My Years with Boss. At Gemini Studios, his duty was to cut and store newspaper clippings on varied subjects, many of which were written by hand.
• Gemini Studios: A film-producing organisation in Chennai, set up in 1940 by S.S. Vasan. It made Tamil films for ordinary audiences and influenced early Indian filmmaking and public life.
• Pancake: The brand name of the make-up material bought by Gemini Studios in truck-loads.
• Make-up department: A department that used pancake and locally made potions and lotions to transform performers for films. Its room resembled a hair-cutting salon, with lights at all angles around half a dozen large mirrors. The incandescent lights created the “fiery misery” experienced by those subjected to make-up, which aimed to close every pore on the face. Since only five per cent of the film was shot outdoors, make-up was mainly applied for indoor filming.
• Strict hierarchy: The arrangement whereby chief make-up men handled chief actors, assistants handled lesser performers, and the office boy handled crowd players.
• Office boy: A man in his early forties who applied paint to crowd players while hoping to become a star actor or writer. His frustration, ignominy and neglect were blamed on Kothamangalam Subbu.
• National integration: The make-up department’s mixture of Bengali, Maharashtrian, Dharwar Kannadiga, Andhra, Madras Indian Christian, Anglo-Burmese and Tamil workers. This diversity represented national integration before A.I.R. and Doordarshan broadcast such programmes.
• Kothamangalam Subbu: Gemini Studios’ No. 2. He was loyal, cheerful, creative, generous and inventive, and could generate many alternatives. For the rat-and-tigress scene, he produced four possibilities and then fourteen more. He was officially placed in the Story Department, which consisted of a lawyer, writers and poets. He recreated the mood and manner of the Devadasis of the early twentieth century, performed better than supposed main players, and never aspired to lead roles. His house permanently accommodated dozens of relations and acquaintances.
• Subbu’s poetry: Original “story poems” using folk refrain and diction, deliberately addressed to the masses.
• Thillana Mohanambal: Subbu’s sprawling novel containing dozens of deftly etched characters.
• Legal adviser: A lawyer in the Story Department, regarded by others as the opposite of a legal adviser. He recorded and replayed a temperamental actress’s tirade, unintentionally ending her brief and brilliant acting career.
• Moral Re-Armament: Frank Buchman’s army, a group of about two hundred that visited Madras in 1952. It included people of at least twenty nationalities.
• Jotham Valley: An MRA play whose staging of sunrise and sunset influenced Tamil drama.
• The Forgotten Factor: A professionally presented MRA play staged in Madras.
• Communism: A term disliked by Gemini’s khadi-clad poets, who associated it with godlessness, violence and unrest.
• Stephen Spender: The English poet and editor who visited Gemini Studios. His talk left the audience dazed and silent because his subject and accent seemed disconnected from the Tamil-film audience.
• The Encounter: A British periodical that organised a short story contest. Asokamitran found it at the British Council Library.
• The God That Failed: A book containing six essays about journeys into Communism and disillusioned return. Its contributors were Andre Gide, Richard Wright, Ignazio Silone, Arthur Koestler, Louis Fischer and Stephen Spender. The edition was a special low-priced student edition connected with the 50th Anniversary of the Russian Revolution.
• Incongruity: The mismatch between an English poet’s talk and a Tamil-film audience.
• Rambling style: A chatty style in which one thought leads to another and is discussed at length.
• Satire: Commentary expressed through cartoons and humour, including criticism of human foibles.

Causes and Consequences

• Because Gemini Studios was largely an indoor film-making environment, with only five per cent of filming conducted outdoors, the make-up department became central to production. Its incandescent lighting and pore-closing pancake make-up exposed the harsh conditions experienced by performers and workers.

• Because the make-up department contained workers from many linguistic and regional backgrounds, including Bengali, Maharashtrian, Dharwar Kannadiga, Andhra, Madras Indian Christian, Anglo-Burmese and Tamil communities, it demonstrated national integration before A.I.R. and Doordarshan broadcast comparable programmes.

• Because the department operated through a strict hierarchy, chief make-up men handled chief actors, assistants handled lesser performers and the office boy handled crowd players. This hierarchy revealed the unequal status and frustrated ambitions of workers in the film industry.

• Because the office boy was dissatisfied with his position, he attributed his frustration, ignominy and neglect to Kothamangalam Subbu. Subbu’s creativity and influence made him a convenient target for resentment.

• Because Subbu was loyal to The Boss and exceptionally inventive, he could devise numerous alternatives for scenes, including four and then fourteen more possibilities for the rat-and-tigress scene. His poetry, acting, generosity and capacity to accommodate relatives and acquaintances made him especially suited to the collaborative demands of films.

• Because Subbu produced popular “story poems” using folk refrain and diction, and wrote Thillana Mohanambal with dozens of deftly etched characters, his literary work addressed the masses while also demonstrating considerable creative range.

• Because the legal adviser recorded and replayed a temperamental actress’s tirade, her brief and brilliant acting career ended. The incident illustrates how technological intervention and studio authority could have unintended personal consequences.

• Because The Boss closed the Story Department, the lawyer lost his job and the poets were sent home. The decision demonstrated the vulnerability of creative and literary workers to managerial decisions.

• Because Frank Buchman’s Moral Re-Armament group visited Madras in 1952, its plays, including Jotham Valley and The Forgotten Factor, were repeatedly watched by the six-hundred-member Gemini family. Their staging techniques—bare stages, white background curtains and flute tunes for sunrise and sunset—were later adopted by Tamil drama.

• Because Gemini’s khadi-clad poets associated Communism with godlessness, violence and unrest, the Studios reflected contemporary political attitudes as well as literary and cinematic culture.

• Because Stephen Spender’s English accent and subject seemed unrelated to the Tamil-film audience, his visit appeared mysterious and produced silence rather than engagement. Asokamitran resolved the incongruity by finding The Encounter at the British Council Library and identifying Spender’s connection with The God That Failed.

• Because The God That Failed collected essays by Andre Gide, Richard Wright, Ignazio Silone, Arthur Koestler, Louis Fischer and Stephen Spender, Spender’s visit could be understood in relation to debates about Communism and disillusioned return from it.

• Because the narrative moves through transitions, humour and satire, apparently separate subjects—make-up, hierarchy, Subbu, the MRA, Communism and Spender—become part of a coherent account of Gemini Studios and its human foibles.

• Because the narrative uses a chatty, rambling style, one thought leads to another and is explored at length. This style connects the account’s educational activities, including comparing present-day film technology with early Indian cinema and collecting about twenty cartoons showing satirical comment.

What Gets Asked

• How does the make-up department reveal both national integration and strict hierarchy at Gemini Studios?
• Why was Kothamangalam Subbu particularly well suited to the demands of film production, and how do his poetry, acting, generosity and creativity support this evaluation?
• How did the legal adviser’s recording of the temperamental actress’s tirade affect her career, and what does the incident show about studio power?
• What was the significance of the Moral Re-Armament visit in 1952, and how did Jotham Valley and The Forgotten Factor influence Tamil drama?
• Why did Stephen Spender’s visit seem incongruous, and how did The Encounter and The God That Failed explain it?
• How do humour, satire, transitions and the rambling style transform accounts of Gemini Studios into literary and educational material?