Poets and Pancakes is a story from which we got to know about the film makers and their problems. The author starts the story by telling that the Pancakes is basically a brand of make-up material that Gemini Studios bought in truck loads. There were all incandescent lights in the make-up room by which artists feels pain and uncomfortable due to the heat produced by the lights. Authors tells us that Gemini Studio was integrated as lots of people from different parts of the country and belongs from different cast worked there. Mr. S.S Vasan was the boss of the Gemini Studio.
There was a big light in the make-up room which produced a lot of heat and brings discomfort for all the actors. And all this problem and pain is considered as ‘fiery misery’.
Gemini Studio had a make-up division which was an example of national integration. Author describes that various people who belonged from different regions and religious groups used to work there together. The department was being headed by a Bengali who was succeeded by a Maharashtrian. And the other helpers and crews includes from Dharwar Kannadiga, an Andhra, a Madras Indian Christian, an Anglo-Burmese and the local Tamils.
The office boy used to do make-up the co-artists who played the crowd. During crowd days, the office- boy used to mix his paint in a big vessel and apply it quickly and noisily on the faces of players. He joined the studio in the hope that he would become a star actor or a screen writer, director or lyrics writer. But he disappointed as he failed to achieve his dream.
The author used to do a duty in which he cut out the newspaper clippings on a huge variety of subjects and stored them into a file. Many of these had to be written out in hand. But the onlookers saw him tearing the newspaper so they thought that he do nothing.
The office boy helped a lot for getting a good opening, but instead getting some promotions he remained a office boy that’s why he got frustrated. He was an educated man and able to write good scripts and poetry but it all was going waste. He showed his anger on Kothamangalam Subbu.
The founder of the Gemini Studios was Mr. S.S Vasan and he was the principal of Subbu.
The abilities of Subbu were:
The lawyer used work in story department. He was known as the legal adviser. But he didn’t provide any benefits to others. He had destroyed the career of many actresses by terrorizing them. Therefore he was called an illegal adviser.
The lawyer stood out from the others due to his dressing sense. He used to wear a pant, a tie sometimes a coat also. But others put on a khadi dhoti with slightly oversized and awkward tailored white khadi shirt, which looked like everyone’s uniform.
Most of the people were the followers of Gandhiji and used to wore khadi. But beyond this they didn’t had any particular political affiliations. But they were all against the communism.
The Moral Rearmament Army was welcomed at the studios because they were come there for plays. But their main intention was to spread hate and stood against the communism. Later the boss of Gemini Studios understood their intentions of plays.
MRA performed two plays ‘Jotham Valley’ and ‘the Forgotten Factor’. The costumes, music and sunrise and sunset scene impressed the Tamil community so much that they were started playing the same scene with a white background curtain and a tune playing on the flute.
The majorities of the people at the Gemini Studios were belonged from Tamil community and knew only Tamil language but Englishman was giving his speech only in English language using a distinct accent. Therefore there was a lack of communications between the Englishman and the people at the Gemini Studios.
The people at the Gemini Studio were not well known with the name of the Englishman and didn’t understand whether he was an writer or poet. And due to his distinct accent and lack of communications people didn’t got interest in his speech therefore he remained a unexplained mystery.
The English visitor to the studios was the poet Stephen Spender or a editor of British periodical ‘The Encounter’.
During going to British Council Library he discovered his identity by reading his name on the pages of magazine ‘The Encounter’. While going through an issue of that periodical, he discovered that its editor was Stephen Spender who once visited the studio.
‘The God that Failed’ was a book with a compilation of six essays by six eminent writers. In each of the essays the writers described about their journeys into Communism and their disillusioned return.
The author used a gentle humour on the different instances which make the story more eccentric. For the very instance the author framed the make-up artists and pancakes in interesting manner. The character view of Subbu was amazing. In the manner he uses his principal and give solutions to the problems was amazing. In the same manner the frustration of office boy, the praising of Gandhi, the episode of illegal adviser causing end of career of actress, hate against communism and the mystery surrounding Stephen Spender are the some instances where the author has incorporated gentle humour.
Kothamangalam Subbu considered No. 2 because he was very loyal to the boss and was a cheerful and lovable in nature and easily gives solution to various problems to boss in which he feels getting stuck.
The majority of the audience at the studios were only known with the Tamil language, but the Englishman was addressing the audience only in English language with some distinct accent which created a lack of communications between Englishman and the audience. This was the incongruity because his audience didn’t understand him at all.
The writer was a fiction-writer. He wanted to send a short story for the short story contest organized by a British periodical by the name ‘The Encounter’.