Asokamitran and Gemini Studios

Author Asokamitran

• Born 1931 and died 2017
• Tamil writer work at Gemini Studios
• Wrote "My Years with Boss" about movie influence on Indian life
• Gemini Studios, Chennai, 1940, influential film producer.
• S.S. Vasan was the founder
• Asokamitran cut/filed newspaper clippings, despite insignificant function, the most informed.

Gemini Studios Makeup Department

• Pancake was the brand of makeup Gemini Studios bought in bulk
• Perhaps even used by Greta Garbo, Miss Gohar, Vyjayantimala, etc
• Located upstairs in a building believed to be Robert Clive's stables.
• The makeup room resembled a hair-cutting salon with bright lights and large mirrors.
• It initially was headed by a Bengali and then a Maharashtrian, assistants included diverse backgrounds like Kannadiga, Andhra, etc
• "National integration" existed before official programs
• The team turned people into "hideous crimson hued monster" using pancake, potions, and lotions

Filmmaking Process

• Primarily indoors
• Only 5% shot outdoors
• The makeup team would make actors look "ugly" for presentation
• Strict department hierarchy: chief makeup man for main actors, assistants for others

Author's Cubicle and Subbu's Role

• The author worked in a cubicle tearing newspapers, perceived as doing nothing.
• The makeup department's "office boy" thought the author was wasting literary talent
• Kothamangalam Subbu was second in command at Gemini Studios
• Subbu started his career amidst uncertainty, unlike the makeup boy
• Subbu was talented and loyal, devoted to his principal's advantage
• Subbu inspired people and innovated film scenes; a key figure at Gemini Studios.
• He was also a poet who wrote for the masses, overshadowing his literary achievements
• Subbu was charitable and had a permanent open house
• Some disliked Subbu due to intimacy with The Boss, demeanour, or flattery

Story Department and Legal Adviser

• Subbu was in the Story Department, alongside a lawyer, writers, and poets
• The lawyer also was known as "the opposite.'
• A talented but temperamental actress was silenced by the lawyer using recording equipment
• The lawyer wore formal attire unlike others
• The lawyer was considered logical amongst dreamers

Gemini Studios' Culture and Visitors

• The Boss allowed some close associates to produce films, irrespective of success
• Poets like S.D.S. Yogiar, Sangu Subramanyam were common faces in Gemini
• There was an excellent mess provided with coffee
• Congress rule meant prohibition, making coffee gatherings satisfying.
• Nearly everyone wore Khadi and worshipped Gandhi without political knowledge
• The staff was averse to Communism.
• Frank Buchman's Moral Re-Armament army visited Madras in 1952, warmly hosted by Gemini Studios
• The group was called an "international circus."
• They performed the plays 'Jotham Valley' and 'The Forgotten Factor.

Later Events and Encounters

• Tamil plays adopted 'Jotham Valley' elements
• MRA seen as counter to international Communism; bosses played into their hands.
• Gemini Studios welcomed 200 people from various nationalities.
• A few months later, a poet from England visited Gemini Studios.
• The staff only knew of Wordsworth, Tennyson, Keats, Shelley, Byron
• Vasan, editor of Ananda Vikatan, gave the visitor a reception
• The poet/editor was not from a known publication in Madras
• The visitor was unknown, serious, and battled fans on the stage
• Boss gave a general speech with "freedom" and "democracy."
• The poet spoke to a dazed audience.

Encountering Stephen Spender

• No one understood the English poet.
• The visit was unexplained.
• Prose-writing suits persistent people, not geniuses
• The Hindu advertised The Encounter's short story contest
• The Encounter wasn't well-known
• The author sought it out at the British Council Library
• He recognized the visiting poet as Stephen Spender.
• Years later, the author found a cheap copy of The God That Failed with an essay by Stephen Spender
• This purchase solved the mystery of Spender's visit