12th standard Poets And Pancakes

 12th standard Poets And Pancakes

Read the extracts and answer the following questions.

1.‘…..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 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 … ”

(a) Who was Robert Clive?

Ans: Major-General Robert Clive was the commander who established the military supremacy of the East India Company in Southern India and Bengal.

(b) What was his connection with the Gemini Studios?

Ans: Gemini Studios was in a building that was believed to have been Robert Clive’s stables.

(c) What was his connection with Madras?

Ans: He had lived in many buildings in the city and also married in St. Mary’s Church in Fort St. George in Madras.

2. ‘… 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 several other locally made potions and lotions … ”

(a) What is implied by ‘gang of nationally integrated make-up men’?

Ans: People in the make-up department were from different parts of the country.

(b) What was the job of the make-up artists?

Ans: Their job was to beautify the actors and make them look presentable.

(c) Bring out the irony in these lines.

Ans: The job was to beautify the actors but they turned any decent-looking person into a tedious monster because they overdid the make-up to make them look presentable in films.

3. ‘…..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 screenwriter, director or lyrics writer. He was a bit of a poet …”

 (a) Who is the ‘him’ in these lines?

Ans: ‘Him’ is the office boy. He was junior-most in the hierarchy of people in the make-up department.

(b) What was his job?

Ans: He had to put the make-up on the crowd players when a crowd scene was to be shot.

(c) Why was he ‘a bit of a poet’?

Ans: His ambitions of becoming a star actor or a top screenwriter, director or lyrics writer had been thwarted so the circumstances had turned him into a poet.

4. ‘…..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 … ”

(a) Who is the ‘I’? What was his job?

Ans: He is the narrator/ writer. His job was to extract the relevant newspaper clippings and file them.

(b) What did the ‘boy’ talk to him about?

Ans: He told him how his ‘great literary talent’ was being allowed to go waste.

(c) Why did ‘I’ wish for crowd shooting?

Ans: That was the only time that the ‘boy’ was occupied and so the writer was saved from his lectures.

5. ‘….He could look cheerful at all times even after having had a hand in a flop film. He always had worked 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 …”

(a) Who is the person being talked about?

Ans: Kothamangalam Subbu.

 (b) How was he viewed by the others employed in the studio?

Ans: They were generally angry with him and blamed him for all their woes and humiliation.

(c) What were the strengths that endeared him to his seniors?

Ans: He was a Brahmin and had exposure to more affluent situations and people. He looked cheerful and was creative. Moreover, he could be inspired when required. He was loyal to his seniors and assisted them when they had a problem. He could suggest fourteen alternative ways of shooting a scene. He was also a great actor.

6. ‘… 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 …”

(a) Who is the person being talked about?

Ans: The legal adviser is being talked about.

(b) Why was he a misfit in the studio?

Ans: Unlike the rest, he was logical, while the others were poets/dreamers. He wore a pant, coat, and a tie in an assembly of Gandhiites and khadiites.

(c) Why did he lose his job?

Ans: He lost his job because the Boss decided to close down the story department.

7. ‘…..A Communist was a godless man—he had no filial or conjugal love; he had no compunction about killing his parents or his children; he was always out to cause and spread unrest and violence among innocent and ignorant people. Such notions which prevailed everywhere else in South India at that time also, naturally, floated about vaguely among the khadi-clad poets of Gemini Studios. Evidence of it was soon forthcoming …”

(a) What ideology did the people in the Gemini Studios align with?

Ans: Most of them wore khadi and worshipped Gandhiji but beyond that, they had not the faintest appreciation for the political thought of any kind.

(b) What did they think about Communism?

Ans: They felt that the Communist was a godless man with no love and was always out to cause and spread unrest and violence among innocent and ignorant people.

(c) What was the ‘evidence’?

Ans: Years later, it was found out that MRA was a kind of counter-movement to international Communism and the big bosses of Madras, like Mr Vasan, had played into their hands.

8.‘….. At last, around four in the afternoon, the poet (or the editor) arrived. He was a tall man, very English, very serious and of course very unknown to all of us. Battling with half a dozen pedestal fans on the shooting stage, The Boss read out a long speech. it was obvious that he too knew precious little about the poet (or the editor). The speech was all in the most general terms but here and there it was peppered with words like ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’ …”

(a) Who was the mystery guest?

Ans: Stephen Spender.

(b) What were the conjunctures of the people working in Gemini Studio?

Ans: They knew he was neither a poet nor an editor of the British publications known in Madras. The surmise was that the poet was the editor of a daily.

(c) What was the reaction of the people to his speech?

Ans: They neither understood the content nor the accent.

9. ‘… Stephen Spender, the poet who had visited Gemini Studios! In a moment I felt a dark chamber of my mind lit up by a hazy illumination. The reaction to Stephen Spender at Gemini Studios was no longer a mystery. The Boss of the Gemini Studios may not have much to do with Spender’s poetry. But not with his god that failed …”

(a) What is meant by ‘a dark chamber of my mind lit up by a hazy illumination’?

Ans: The author was able to place the guest fact appropriately now as to the identity of the guest and the purpose of his visit.

(b) How did the narrator realize the identity of the poet who had visited Gemini Studios?

Ans: In the British Council Library, he saw copies of The Encounter and read the editor’s name.

(c) Explain the reference ‘god that failed’.

Ans: Here, it refers to Communism, the idea that had seemed so promising initially but had disillusioned many. The Boss had known about and shared in Stephen Spender’s disillusionment with Communism. The God That Failed was a compilation of essays by six eminent men, including the author, as a sojourn into communism and their disillusioned return.

Short Answer Type Questions  

1.What is the significance of the words ‘poet’ and ‘pancake’?

Ans: ‘Pancake’ was the brand name of the make-up material that Gemini Studios bought in large quantities. It was used as a make-up base for the actors shooting in the studio. Thus this chapter deals with the people working in Gemini Studios, most of them in the make-up department. The word ‘Poets’ comes from the fact that Gemini Studios was the favourite haunt of poets, who had influenced the thinking of the employees of the Studios. It was also visited by the English poet Stephen Spender.

2. What is the writer’s view of Robert Clive?

Ans: The make-up department of the Gemini Studios was in a building that was believed to have been Robert Clive’s stables. Various other buildings in Madras were said to have been his residence. The writer says that Clive’s stay in India and specifically Madras, was for a very short period, though he married in St. Mary’s Church in Madras. But during this brief stay, he seemed to have done a lot of moving, besides fighting some tough battles in far-flung areas of India.

3. What does the writer say about national integration in the Studio?

Ans: The writer says that the make-up department did not have people belonging to the same geographical region. It was first headed by a Bengali who 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 people from all over the country worked together. So, in a light-hearted manner, he refers to this as national integration.

4. Bring out the humour in the job done by the make-up men.

Ans: The writer says that the ‘gang’ (not group) of men from all corners could transform any decent-looking person into a repulsive crimson coloured fiend because of the enormous amount of make-up they used on the actor. The chief make-up man-made the chief actors and actresses ugly. According to the writer, they used ‘truck-loads of pancake’. Other than the pancake, they used locally manufactured ‘potion and lotions’. He feels with so much make-up, they looked uglier than in real life. This was required to make them look acceptable in the movie.

5. What was the hierarchy that was maintained in the make-up department?

Ans: The authoritarian chain of command in the make-up department spelled the duties of the employees by their position in the hierarchy. The chief make-up man did the makeup for the main actors and actresses; his senior assistant worked on the ‘second hero and heroine’, the junior assistant on the ‘main comedian’, and so on. The players who played the crowd were the responsibility of the office boy, who was the junior-most. Because the office boy was the junior-most in the hierarchy, he was only required when a crowd scene was to be shot as he applied make-up on the crowd players.

6. Why was the ‘office boy’ disgruntled in the Studios?

Ans:  The job of the ‘office boy’ was to paint the faces of the crowd on the days when there was an outdoor shooting. Such occasions in those days were rare as only 5 per cent of the film was shot outdoors. Moreover, he wasn’t a ‘boy’ but a man in his early forties, who had joined the studios years ago in the hope of becoming a star actor or a top screenwriter, director or lyrics writer. He felt that his literary talent was being allowed to go waste in a department that was suitable only for ‘barbers and perverts’.