JAIRAM

PUBLIC SCHOOL, SALEM-8

(CBSE-Senior Secondary)
Affiliated to CBSE, New Delhi Affln No.1930411

Ph:97900-55555

English ALS Portfolio

Sub Code: 301
2022 - 23
This is to certify that Janaarthanan.N of class XII-
A2 has completed his project file under my supervision.
He has taken proper care and shown utmost sincerity in
completion of this project. I certify that her project is up to my
expectation and as per guidelines issued by CBSE.

Internal Examiner External Examiner Principal Signature

Date:

I express my gratitude to Mr.R. GOKUL , MA(English).,

B.Ed. Ph.D in English, my English Teacher and Guide, who guided

me throughout the project and also gave me valuable suggestions

and guidance for completing the project . He helped me to

understand the intricate issues involved in making the project,

besides effectively presenting it. These intricacies would have been

lost otherwise. My project has been success only because of his

guidance.

Name of the Student:……………………………

Roll No.:…………….

.……………………………………..
(Signature)
2


This is to certify that Janaarthanan.N of Class XII-A2 of

Jairam Public School, Salem-8 has completed his project file
under my guidance. He has taken proper care and shown utmost
sincerity in completing this project.

I certify that his project this project is up to my expectations

and as per the guidelines issued by CBSE.

Mr. R. Gokul

(Ph.D ENGLISH/Head of the Department)

.……………………………………..
(Signature)

I Janaarthanan.N Roll No……………… Student of Class

XII – A2 of Jairam Public School – 8 certify that the project

was undertaken by me as a part of CBSE Curriculum. The

context used in the project has been referred and

analyzed by me from the distinguish websites and

therefore, I take it to be authentic and reliable

Name of the Student:……………………………

Roll No.:…………….

.……………………………………
(Signature)

Action Plan For The Project:

1. Selection of the topic.

2. Approval of the topic by the teacher in

charge.
3. Research work on the given topic.

4. Exploring the content with multiple resources.

5. Analyzing the literary work properly which is

given by guide.
6. Preparation of a Detailed Report.

5
Objectives of the ALS Project:
1. Aims to the check the listening capacity.

2. To encourage the abilities.

3. To stimulate the inter and intra personal skills.

4. To determine the innovation and creativity

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 INDEX
S.NO. TOPIC PG.NO

1 Cover Page 1
2 Acknowledgement 2
3 Certificate of Guide 3
4 Certificate of Student 4
5 Action Plan 5
6 Objective of ALS 6
7 About the Author 8
8. Prologue of the chapter 9-10
9. Theme of the chapter 11
10. Characters of the chapter 12-14
11. Parts of the chapter 15
12. The Make-Up dept. of Gemini Studios 16-17
13. The Writing & Poetry dept. of Gemini Studios 18-20
14. Politics in Gemini Studios 21-23
15. Summary of the chapter 24-26
16. Bibliography 27
17. Report of the project 28-30

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 About the Author

• Jadgadisa Thiagarajan, pen name - Asokamitran (22

September 1931- 23 March 2017)
• Famous Tamil writer and Sahitya Akademie winner
• Fluent in writing in both Tamil and English with a
career spanning of 6 decades.
• Has written 8 novels, 20 novellas and hundreds of
short stories.
• Has spent his initial career years in the famous
Gemini Studios of Chennai, cutting and pasting
newspaper articles.
• The prose ‘Poets and Pancakes’ is an extract from an
autobiographical book ‘My Years with Boss’
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 Prologue of the Chapter

GEMINI STUDIOS :

The Gemini Studios of Madras (Chennai) was

one of India’s pioneering and influential film producing
organizations of India, for almost thirty years.
It was founded by the brilliant and talented
S.S. Vasan, and it had around 600 of staffs and made
movies for Tamil Nadu and other southern Indian states.

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PANCAKES:
Pancake was the make-up material used by the
Gemini Studios at that time.
These pancakes were required in large amounts
for the cast of any film or drama that is made in Gemini
Studios.
Truckloads of these pancakes used to be
transported to the Gemini Studios.

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 Theme of the Chapter

Through this autobiography, Asokamitran

brings up a lot of topics relating to the film industry in
the 20th century.

He also briefly explains his experience with the

various people he worked with, like the office boy, the
legal advisor who ruins the career of a new talented
actress unwittingly, etc.

He also discusses some social and political

problems here and there, for example anti-communism
movement run by the west.

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 Characters of the Chapter

This prose contains many interesting characters

that played a memorable and unique role in the
experience of Asokamitran in the Gemini Studios
Some of these completely distinct characters from
Asokamitran are:

(i)Office boy:
He was not exactly a boy as he is described
to be a 40-year-old man employee at the Gemini Studios.
His job in the Gemini Studios is to provide
the side characters (for crowd involved scenes) with
make-up by slapping them with a mixture of various
make-up products.
He’s an interesting character who couldn’t
get a chance to be a writer or an actor in the field, hence
tries to release his anger by backbiting talented people
that succeeded in the field and blaming them for his
failure.

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 (ii)Kothamangalam Subbu:
He was an amazing writer and stunning
actor who was the No.2 at the Gemini Studios after
S.S.Vasan ,who likes him for his talent ,hard work and
charisma.
The office boy character always throws dirt
on his name, by saying he only got the opportunity
because of his caste and he lacks skill.
Even though people accepted and praised his
generosity in front of him whenever he tends to help or
feed or lets the dozens of near and distant relations in his
own house, he still had enemies

(iii)Legal Advisor:
He was the lawyer of the story department
of the Gemini Studios, but he’s popular for his nickname
“Illegal Advisor”
He ruins the career of a new talented
actress unwittingly by accidentally snitching about her
with the director when she was talking bad about him
His dressing sense is mentioned to be
distinct from the others of the Gemini Studios.

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 The workers at Gemini Studios were
following the Gandhian code of clothing (khadi dhoti and
white khadi shirt), this man is said to be dressed in pants
and tie, and sometimes an oversized coat, looking like a
foreigner in between the crowd of Gemini Studios

(iv)Stephen Spender:
He was an English poet, editor and a one-
time communist who came to Gemini Studios and gave a
speech which had a heavy British accent which nobody in
Madras, even those who knew English failed to
understand a word from.

He and his speech that day remains as a

total mystery to everyone at the Gemini Studios.
Asokamitran later discovered that Stephen
Spender was the editor of the British periodical,
’Encounter’ when he accidentally chanced upon
Spender’s essay on Communism on the book.
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 Parts of the Chapter
This prose is divided into 3 sub parts, each depicts
the various kinds of experiences at the Gemini Studios

They are:

(i)The Make-Up department of Gemini Studios

(ii)The Writing and Poetry department of

Gemini Studios

(iii)Politics in Gemini Studios

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 (i) The Make-Up department
of Gemini Studios

MAKE UP ROOM:

The make-up room in which all the main characters

were getting read, is described to be give a look of a hair-
cutting salon with lights at all angles around half a dozen
large mirrors.
The lights that were in the make-up room were all
incandescent lights, which produce a lot of heat which is
described as a “fiery misery” of those subjected to make-up.
Pancake was the make-up material used by the
Gemini Studios at that time in truck loads.
This room is in the upstairs of Gemini Studios, which
was initially the stables of Robert Clive.
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THE STRICT MAKE-UP HIERARCHY IN GEMINI STUDIOS:

The chief make-up man made the chief actors ugly,

his senior assistant the ‘second’ hero and heroine, the junior
assistant for the main comedian etc.
The players who played the crowd were the
responsibility of the “office boy”, who was not exactly a ‘boy’
but a middle-aged man in his forties.
He used to mix all the make-up products in a giant
vessel and slap it on the crowd players who stood in a row.
The office boy entered the Studios years ago with a dream to
become a star actor or top writer, director or lyrics writer.
The office boy who was traumatized by the failure
he had to face in this field, had no choice but to release his
anger by backbiting talented people (by saying the people
there were fit only for being barbers and perverts) that
succeeded in the field and blaming them for his failure.

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 (ii) The Writing and Poetry
department of Gemini Studios

AUTHOR ASOKAMITRAN’S JOB AT GEMINI STUDIOS:

Asokamitran worked in cubicles which were small

rooms with French windows in the Gemini Studios, collecting
newspaper cuttings and information.
He often had trouble listening to the Office Boy’s
gossips, so he wished that the studio was always filled with
crowd actors, so that he can be busy slapping paint on their
faces rather than boring the author with gossips.
The boss, S.S.Vasan was a famous writer and editor.
He was the editor of the Tamil weekly Ananda Vikatan.

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KOTHAMANAGLAM SUBBU:

He was the No.2 at Gemini Studios and he had the

ability to look cheerful at all times, even after a flop film but
the people are jealous of the bonding he has with The Boss,
and call him a sycophant, which is not true.
He was tailor made for films, for instance if the
producer asked for scene with an absurd theme, for example
“The rat fights the tigress underwater and kills her but takes
pity on the cubs and tends them lovingly”, he would come
out with four ways and 14 more variations of the rat pouring
affection on its victim’s offspring 14 more variations of this
scene.
He was the person who wrote a sprawling novel
“Thillana Mohanambal”, and he successfully recreated the
mood and manner of the Devadasis of the early 20th century.

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THE CONTROVERSY CREATED BY THE “ILLEGAL ADVISOR”:

In the story department, there was a lawyer too and

he was formally known as the “Legal Advisor”, but people
often called him the opposite, the “Illegal Advisor”
Once a talented, but short-tempered rural actress
was mad at the director for some reason, and started
shouting at the set, which was accidentally recorded and
played by the Legal Advisor, which shook the actress.
Since the Legal Advisor had accidentally put an end
to the career of a talented actress, he was called Illegal
Advisor after this tragic incident.
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 (iii) Politics in Gemini Studios
S.S.VASAN AS A COMMUNIST:
S.S.Vasan was actually a communist who wanted
people to understand the true morals and ideologies of
Communism, and he tried to preach them with the help of
Stephen Spender and the Moral Re-Armament Army or MRA
(who turned out to be against communism).

COMMUNISM IN THE EYES OF 20TH CENTURY PEOPLE:

In the 20th century people were following Gandhi

and following Gandhian policies, but they don’t like the word
“Communism” as they misunderstood that a communist was
a godless man, who neither have the love of their
predecessors or their heirs and would kill their own parents
or children to create violence and unrest in the society.
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 Since the people hated international communism
and didn’t feel comfortable with even uttering the word
“communism”, some people followed Gandhi’s communism
without officially calling it communism.

THE “MRA” AND ITS INFLUENCE IN MADRAS AND GEMINI

STUDIOS:

In 1952, Frank Buchman’s Moral Re-Armament

Army (MRA), which is a movement that was against the
international communism, performed two stage plays in the
Madras Gemini Studios, they were “Jotham Valley” and “The
Forgotten Factor”.
The audience were stunned by the fact that they
were able to create a scene of the sunrise and sunset, which
hadn’t ever been done in the Tamil drama community, and
after that, the directors in madras tried to squeeze in some
scenes like this which greatly amused the audience for years.

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STEPHEN SPENDER’S MYSTERY AND HIS SPEECH:
Stephen Spender was an English poet, editor and a
one-time communist, who was an unknown man to the
people at Gemini Studios other than Mr. Vasan.
Spender was requested by Mr. Vasan to give a
speech in the Gemini Studios, but after Mr. Vasan finishes his
short introduction which was general, the audience were up
for a surprise.
Spender’s accent baffled the audience, and they
couldn’t understand what he tried to convey in his speech, so
he and his speech remain as an unsolved mystery of the
Gemini Studios.
When Asokamitran bought a book named “The God
That Failed”, which was coincidentally written by Stephen
Spender, he felt as if he had gotten his answers for all of his
unanswered questions. The English man ‘Stephen Spender’
isn’t a mystery anymore, to Asokamitran atleast.

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 Summary of the chapter
The chapter has been taken from the book ‘My
Years with Boss’ by Asokamitran. It is about his time when he
worked in Gemini Studios. It was quite a famous film studio
back in those days.
We learn that Asokamitran’s job is to cut newspaper
clippings concerning different topics and maintaining a file of
the same.
In this story, we learn about a lot of things relating
to the film industry, especially the one in India. We get an
inside glimpse of the working it and also of the beginning of
India post-independence.
He first writes his take on the make-up department.
Moreover, he makes fun of the looks the actors try and the
glaring lights. After that, we learn that ‘pancakes’ is actually
the name of a makeup brand used by the Gemini studio.
He also mentions how the make-up department
uses loads of makeup to make them look ugly. He also tells
us about the office boy in the make-up department. He has a
job to slap paint, during crowd-shooting, on the faces of
players.
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 Further, we learn that the author is a poet who joins
the studio to become an actor, screenwriter, director or
lyricist. He has a cubicle to work where he has to collect
newspaper cuttings.
The office boy always came in with his complaints to
the author. The author thinks that Subbu is the one who
troubles him. As Subbu is a Brahmin, the author thinks he
has an upper hand.
We see that Subbu is a resourceful man with a
loyalty that sets him apart. Subbu is the perfect one for films
and film-making is impossible without him. Everyone loves
Subbu for being friendly and hospitable.
Along with many others, Subbu also does poetry. He
works for the story department that also has a lawyer.
However, people considered him to be the exact opposite of
a legal consultant.
Moreover, he is a logical man with a neutral
mindset in a group where there are only dreamers. After
that, we learn how the Gemini Studios got the opportunity to
host the Moral Rearmament Army.
They are a group of international performers named
Moral Rearmament Army, while they did not have very
complex plots, their sets and costumes were almost perfect.
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 Another guest, Stephen Spender, makes a visit to
Gemini Studios. However, turns out, he is not that famous
and many people have not even heard of him. Moreover,
owing to language barriers, many could not understand him.
Thus, his visit remained a mystery until after many
years the author saw Stephen’s name in a book and
recognized him from his visit to the studio.
To sum up, Poets and Pancakes summary, we learn
about the film industry in detail and the inside functioning as
well as when Independent India was in its infancy.

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 Bibliography

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashokamitran

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._S._Vasan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Spender

https://www.toppr.com/guides/english/english-
flamingo/poets-and-pancakes-summary/

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Report of the Project

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