Poets and Pancakes - Short Answer Type Questions

Poets & Pancakes

Q1.  What does the writer mean by ‘the fiery misery of those subjected to make-up?

   Ans. The makeup room had a lot of hot bulbs always burning inside and a number of mirrors to reflect the heat. It was really a very difficult and miserable for the artistes to sit there for make-up. There were no cooling systems in those days. So the artists had to bear all that.

Q2. What is the example of national integration that the author refer to?

  Ans. The members of the make-up department were from various parts of India. Anyone could be the head of the make-up room. Once there was a Bengali as the head of this department. He was succeeded by a Maharashtrian. His assistant was a Dharwar Kannadiga. So it was the best example of national integration.

Q3. What work did the ‘office boy’ do in the Gemini studio? Why did he join the studios? Why was he disappointed?  Or Who was the office boy? What was his duty in the make-up department? How did he join the studios? Why was he disappointed and frustrated?

  Ans. The office boy was a forty year old man. He wanted to become a star actor, a top screen writer or a lyric writer. His duty was to apply make-up for the crowd-players for shooting. So he remained unsatisfied and criticized everyone he felt jealous of.

Q4. Why did the author appear to be doing nothing at the studios? (2011)  How was the author’s job odd in the eyes of the other staff? How did they respond to this?
Ans. Asokamitran’s job at the Gemini Studios was to collect information from newspapers and magazines and to paste the cuttings in files for reference. The other members of the studios always advised him to do some better job.

Q5. Subbu is described as a many-sided genius. List four of his special abilities. Or  Who was Kothamangalam Subbu? How did he make all the other staff hate him?
Ans. Kothamangalam Subbu joined the Gemini Studios as a clerk and remained the same in the records. But in practice he soon acquired the status of the No.2 at the studios because of his amazing genius and different skills. He did any work for his boss and ignored the rest. This made the rest of the staff envy him.

Q6. Discuss Subbu’s identity as a poet. Why was he not known as a poet?
Ans. Apart from being an amazing director of movies, Subbu had the identity as a poet. The world of his time and later never recognized him as a poet yet he was a great unknown poet. He wrote poem in the simplest Tamil language and was able to recreate the classical poems in his own style.

 Q7. Subbu was excellent as an actor too. Discuss.
Ans. Subbu was a good actor. He was able to act better than the lead actors yet never wished to take any lead roles in any movie.
Q8. In spite of all the good qualities and readiness to be a host any time, Subbu had only enemies. Why?
Ans. Subbu was good to everyone he met. He always spoke with them in nicely. He fed his relatives. He excelled everyone in the Gemini Studios. But he was hated by most of them just because he was so close to the boss of the studios.   

   Q 9. How did Subbu surpass the office boy despite his limitations?
Ans. The office boy in the makeup department was always ahead of Subbu in the beginning, especially in education, having influential people to support. But he ended up where he began while Subbu ascended the steps to the maximum height and surpassed the Boy.

Q10(a) What made the lawyer stand out from the others at Gemini studios? 

   Ans. The legal advisor’s uniform was totally different from those of others employees at the Gemini studios. He did not wear khadi dhoti and a khadi white shirt. Rather he wore pants and a tie. Sometimes he also wore a loose fitting coat like that of a mail-man.

  Q10 (b) How did the legal adviser behave illegally in the instance of the actress? What did he do? 
Ans. The legal advisor was, of course, an advocate, yet was known as an illegal advisor. Once he recorded the voice of an actress who shouted at the producer and director while in the shooting sets. The legal advisor’s behavior turned out to be illegal because he did it without the actress’ permission.

Q11. Why was the Moral Re-armament army welcomed at the Studios? Or What was MRA? Why did it tour the world?
Ans. MRA, short for Moral Rearmament Army was an anti-Communist organization that toured the world informing the world of the evil side of Communism that was spreading throughout Asia and some parts of Europe. Headed by Frank Buchman, the MRA believed that Communism was evil and it would wipe out democracy in the world.

Long Questions:

Poets & Pancakes

Q1.  What does the writer mean by ‘the fiery misery of those subjected to make-up?

   Ans. The makeup room had a lot of hot bulbs always burning inside and a number of mirrors to reflect the heat. It was really very difficult and miserable for the artists to sit there for make-up. There were no cooling systems in those days. So the artists had to bear all that.

Q2. What is the example of national integration that the author refers to?

  Ans. The members of the make-up department were from various parts of India. Anyone could be the head of the make-up room. Once there was a Bengali as the head of this department. He was succeeded by a Maharashtrian. His assistant was a Dharwar Kannadiga. So it was the best example of national integration.

Q3. What work did the ‘office boy’ do in the Gemini studio? Why did he join the studios? Why was he disappointed?  Or Who was the office boy? What was his duty in the make-up department? How did he join the studios? Why was he disappointed and frustrated?

  Ans. The office boy was a forty-year-old man. He wanted to become a star actor, a top screenwriter, or a lyric writer. His duty was to apply make-up for the crowd players for shooting. So he remained unsatisfied and criticized everyone he felt jealous of.

  Q4. Why did the author appear to be doing nothing at the studios? (2011)  How was the author’s job odd in the eyes of the other staff? How did they respond to this?
Ans. Asokamitran’s job at the Gemini Studios was to collect information from newspapers and magazines and to paste the cuttings in files for reference. The other members of the studios always advised him to do a better job.

Q5. Subbu is described as a many-sided genius. List four of his special abilities. Or  Who was Kothamangalam Subbu? How did he make all the other staff hate him?
Ans. Kothamangalam Subbu joined the Gemini Studios as a clerk and remained the same in the records. But in practice, he soon acquired the status of the No.2 at the studios because of his amazing genius and different skills. He did any work for his boss and ignored the rest. This made the rest of the staff envy him.

 Q6. Discuss Subbu’s identity as a poet. Why was he not known as a poet?
Ans. Apart from being an amazing director of movies, Subbu had the identity as a poet. The world of his time and later never recognized him as a poet yet he was a great unknown poet. He wrote poems in the simplest Tamil language and was able to recreate the classical poems in his own style.

 Q7. Subbu was excellent as an actor too. Discuss.
Ans. Subbu was a good actor. He was able to act better than the lead actors yet never wished to take any lead roles in any movie.
Q8. In spite of all the good qualities and readiness to be a host at any time, Subbu had only enemies. Why?
Ans. Subbu was good to everyone he met. He always spoke with them nicely. He fed his relatives. He excelled with everyone in the Gemini Studios. But he was hated by most of them just because he was so close to the boss of the studios.   

Q1. What was the hierarchy observed at the Make-up Room in Gemini Studios?

Ans.   A strict hierarchy in the Makeup Room

The writer says that a strict hierarchy was observed in the make-up department. The job of the chief make-up man was to apply make-up on the faces of the chief actors and actresses. The senior assistant applied makeup to the faces of the second-number hero and heroine, and the junior comedian did makeup to the main comedian and others of the same rank.

The responsibility of the ‘office boy’ was to apply makeup material on the people who were playing the role of the crowd. He would mix paint in a giant vessel and slap it with a brush on the faces of the people hurriedly. It was done to hide every pore or patch on the face to make it look presentable according to the set-up norms. The mention of a separate office boy in the make-up room shows the large size of the Gemini Studios.

Q2. Write something about Ashokamitran’s job at the Gemini Studios.

Ans. Ashokamitran says that his duty in the Gemini Studios was to sit in a small room. The writer would sit in his desk and make cuttings of the important news-items and collect them in a file. People usually thought his job to be insignificant. So some people would take pity on him and deliver to him a long lecture on the necessity of getting a real job.

Even the ‘boy’ in the make-up department made Ashokamitran aware of the fact that his literary talent was being wasted on that petty job. The writer would every time pray for crowd shooting. It means that only crowd-shooting could save him the boy of the makeup department.

 

 

Q3. About Kothamangalam Subbu

In these lines, Ashokamitran tells us about Kothamangalam Subbu, who was number 2 in position at Gemini Studios. He had a very impressive entry in films than the grown- up boy in the makeup department had. As compared to Kothamangalam Subbu, the office boy had to face more difficulties and uncertainties in his career. In his times, there were no established film producing companies or studios.

Even in the matter of formal education, the boy had a good lead over Subbu. In the office boy’s opinion, Subbu took advantage of being a Brahmin by caste and got closer to well off people and got good exposure to situations that made him feel more comfortable.

Ashokamitran says that Subbu had formed a habit of keeping a broad smile on his face even in adverse situations, i.e. even having a hand in a flop film. He was a resourceful person, who had always had work for people who came in his contact and he had ready solutions to difficult problems. Though he could never do things himself but he had a tact of getting them by others perfectly. His sense of loyalty made him recognised by his seniors and his creativity was his best assets that made him look perfect to others. He was specially made for films (He was tailor-made for films. )

Subbu was always ready for finding  out solutions to problems. He always felt inspired whenever he got orders from his seniors.

If the director asked him about creating a scene for a situation in which a rat fights with a tigress underwater and kills her. Then the rat takes pity on the cubs and tends them lovingly out of pity. Subbu would come up with four ways for the rat showing affection on the cubs

In case the producer said that he was not sure of the effectiveness of his suggestions, then he would come out with fourteen more alternatives.

Film making was so easy for Subbu that he always felt comfortable while dealing with the situations that all of a sudden arose during shooting. The writer further says that it was Subbu who gave direction and definition to Gemini studios during its golden years.

Subbu had also a talent for writing poetry. Although he was capable of writing complex and higher type of poetry, it was his deliberate (willing) choice to write poetry that common people could like and understand easily. But his literary achievements were overshadowed by the success he got in films. He wrote truly original ‘stories’ in folk refrain and diction. He wrote a long novel ‘Thillana Mohanambal’ in which there were dozens of skilfully prepared characters.

Kothamangalam Subbu was behind the success of the film Devadasis that was released in early twentieth century. He had worked for recreating the mood and manner of that film. He was amazingly a great actor, who never aspired for the lead role in which he could play as the hero or the main character in the film. Whatever role he got, he played it sincerely and better than the actors who were in lead roles.

Another quality that Subbu had in him was his generosity (large-heartedness). He was a very kind host (someone who has guests) to anyone who came in his contact and needed shelter. That’s why the writer says that his house was a permanent residence for dozens of near and far relations and acquaintances.

Another thing Ashokamitran adds here about Subbu’s nature is that he was never conscious of the fact that he was helping people by providing them shelter and food in his house. It was a selfless service indeed.