Poets & Pancakes is an excerpt from Ashoka Mitran's book "My Years with Boss" where he recounts his time working at Gemini Studios in the Tamil film industry. He discusses many topics in a rambling style, from the makeup department's use of thick "pancake" foundation, to the studio head S.S. Vasan and writer Kothamangalam Subbu. Mitran also describes visits to the studio from writers like Stephen Spender and discussions about topics ranging from national integration to communism and the Moral Rearmament movement.

1. POETS &PANCAKES
Ashoka Mitran

2. Ashoka Mitran (1931-2017)
• Real Name: Jagadisa Thyagarajan
• Wrote more than 200 short
stories,8 novels and 15 novellas.
• Distinguished essayist and critic.
• Won Sahithya Academi Award in
1996.
• His works are known for clarity
of thought and simplicity.

3. My Years With Boss _ Ashoka Mitran
• Poets & Pancakes is an excerpt
from the book “ My Years with
Boss”, written by Ashoka Mitran.
• He recounts his years at the Gemini
Studio and talks of the influence of
movies on every aspect of life in
India.
• He wrote his experience of working
in the Tamil film industry for the
Illustrated weekly which was later
compiled and published as “My
Years With Boss”

4. pancake
• Pancake is the name of the
make-up material that is
compressed into a cake and is
applied as a make up base with
damp sponge. It is a thick ,heavy
oil and wax based foundation
that provides a great deal of
coverage.

5. • Pancakes provide a lot more
coverage than regular cream
based make ups, so it is often
used for theatrical performance
by people who are going to
appear on stage or screen, such
as models and actors. It creates
a water resistant finish and
won’t be affected by sweat.

6. Gemini Studios
• From 1940 to 1969 Gemini
studios was the most influential
film producing organization of
India.
• Ashoka Mitran worked here
from 1952 to 1966.
• In 1940 S.S Vasan bought it in an
auction.
• He named it after his successful
racehorse Gemini.

7. Greta Garbo
• Greta Garbo was a Swedish –
American actress who was one of
the most glamorous and popular
stars of the 1920s and 1930s.
• She was nominated thrice for the
Academy Awards in the best
actress category.
• Received an Academy Honoraray
Award in 1954 for her captivating
and unforgettable screen
performances.

8. Miss Gohar ( 1910-1985)
• Gohar Mamajiwala also known
as Miss Gohar was an Indian
singer, actor, producer and
studio owner, who started her
film career at the age of sixteen.

9. Vyjayanthimala Bali (1936)
• Renowned Bharathanatyam
dancer, choreographer and
parliamentarian.
• Regarded as the first female
‘superstar’. She had a long filmy
career lasting more than two
decades.
• She was conferred with the
Sangeet Natak Academy Award
in 1982.

10. Rati Agnihotri(1960)
• Indian film actress
• Major films in Hindi, Tamil and
Kannada.
• Popular Hindi films- Ek Duje
Keliye, and Coolie

11. Robert Clive(1725-1774)
• A controversial personality, also
known as Clive of India.
• Established the military and
political supremacy of East India
company in Bengal.
• Laid the foundation of British Raj
in India.

12. S.S. Vasan
• ‘The Boss’ referred to in this
chapter is S.S Vasan, owner of
the Gemini Studios, who was
also a journalist, writer,
advertiser, film producer,
director and prominent business
man of Madras.
• He was the founder of the Tamil
magazine- Ananda Vikatan.

13. French Window
• French windows are large
windows that can also serve as
doors and it has one or more
panes of glasses set into the
whole length of the door

14. Kothamangalam Subbu(1910-1974)
• Subbu(S.M.Subramanian) was an
Indian poet,lyricist,author actor
and film director in south India.
• He was awarded Padmashri.
• Wrote the Tamil classic Thillana
Mohanambal.
• Was a close associate of S.S
Vasan and was considered No.2
at the Gemini Studios.

15. Thillana Mohanambal
• Novel • Movie

16. Thillana Mohanambal
• Tamil novel written by Kothamangalam Subbu, which was also made
into a movie in the year 1967.
• Earlier in 1957 it was published in the Tamil Magazine Ananda
Vikatan, founded by S.S.Vasan.
• It is the story of Shanmugasundaram, a Nadaswaram player and
Mohanambal, a Bharatahanatyam dancer. Unfortunately both could
not confess their love for each other. Their families create a challenge
in their coming together. The way they overcome the obstacles weave
the rest of the story.

17. Krishna Shastri
• Devulapalli Venkata Krishna
Shastri ( 1897-1980) was a
Telungu poet, playwright and
translator.
• He was popularly known as
Andhra Shelly.

18. Harindranath Chattopadhyay
• Was an Indian English poet,
dramatist, actor and musician.
• He was member of the first Lok
Sabha from Vijayawada
constituency.
• Brother of Sarojini Naidu.
• Received Padmabhushan in the
year 1973.

19. Frank Buchman(1878-1961)
• Franklin Nathaniel Daniel
Buchman, best known as Rev.Dr.
Frank Buchman was a Ptotestant
Evangelist, who founded the
Oxford Group, known as the
Moral Re-Armament.

20. Moral Re-Armamment
• Moral Re-Armament or MRA was an international spiritual and moral
movement, that in 1938, developed from American minister Frank
Buchman’s Oxford Group.
• In 1938 European nations were re-arming themselves for war. It was
then the Oxford group felt the need for rearming the nations
spiritually and morally and launched a campaign of Moral
rearmament in London.
• It was also known as a right wing group.

21. Jotham Valley
• Jotham Valley is a melodrama of
two quarrelling brothers, whose
hatred brings misery to all the
neighbours, particularly when
one brother deprives the valley
of water, because he legally
controls the water rights. In the
end the key of truth opens the
hardened heart of the brother
and he permits the water to
gush forth and the brothers also
make up.

22. The Forgotten Factor
• Another drama staged by the
MRA.
• Based on the theme human and
ideological clashes during a
tense strike.
• An industrial drama.
• Translated to 16 languages and
later made into a movie.

23. The Encounter
• The Encounter was a literary
magazine founded in 1953 by
poet Stephen Spender and
journalist Irving Kristol.
• It was largely an Anglo-American
intelectual and cultural journal
originally associated with the
anti Stalinist left.
• It stopped publication in 1991.

24. Stephen Spender
• The poet from England who
visited Gemini Studios.
• English poet, novelist and
essayist.
• He concentrated on the themes
of social injustice and class
struggle in his works.
• Was the editor of the Encounter
from 1953 to 1966.

25. The God that Failed
• The God that Failed is collection
of essays written by six eminent
writers of the world who were
disillusioned by communism.
• They were Andre Gide, Richard
Wright, Ignazio Silone, Arthur
Koestler, Louis Fischer and
Stephen Spender

26. Poets and Pancakes is one of the best examples of a chatty, rambling,
humourous and satirical style of writing where one thought leads to
another and then dealt upon at length. For eg.
• Gemini Studios
• Makeup department
• National Integration
• Office boy
• S S Vasan
• Kothamangalam Subbu
• Legal advisor
• Poets and writers
• Stephen Spender
• Communism and MRA
• The God that Failed

27. Difficult words and phrases
• Stable - place set apart for keeping horses
• Maiden - unmarried young woman
• Fiery - red hot, scorching
• Hideous - extremely ugly, frightful
• Potion - liquid mixture
• Cubicle - a small partitioned part of a room
• Covertly - secretly
• Having hand in - to be involved with something
• Deftly - effortlessly, skilfully
• Sprawling - spreading over large area

28. Difficult words and phrases
• Improvident - spendthrift, one who does not plan his expenses
• Sycophant - one who shows excessive obedience to gain advantage
• Tirade - long angry speech of accusation
• Struck dumb- shocked
• Coat of mail - protective garment made of linked metal rings or plates
• Homilies - sermon, lecture
• Literati - well educated people interested in literature