Flamingo Prose Chapter 6 Poets and Pancakes English Core - Flamingo Prose Chapter 6 Poets and Pancakes

“At last, around four in the afternoon, the poet (or the editor) arrived. He was a tall man, very English, very
serious and of course very unknown to all of us. Battling with half a dozen pedestal fans on the shooting stage,
The Boss read out a long speech. It was obvious that he too knew precious little about the poet (or the editor).
The speech was all in the most general terms but here and there it was peppered with words like ‘freedom’
and ‘democracy’. Then the poet spoke. He couldn’t have addressed a more dazed and silent audience — no
one knew what he was talking about and his accent defeated any attempt to understand what he was saying.
The whole thing lasted about an hour; then the poet left and we all dispersed in utter bafflement — what are
we doing? What is an English poet doing in a film studio which makes Tamil films for the simplest sort of
people?”

1. Who is the poet in these lines?
a) Subbu
b) Stephen Spender
c) Louis Fischer
d) TS Eliot

2. What does ‘dazed’ in the extract mean?

3. Why didn’t the audience understand the speech?

4. Which of the following statements is TRUE?
a) The poet was the apt choice for addressing the Gemini family
b) The poet felt happy about the warm welcome
c) Everybody was able to follow the accent of the poet
d) Nobody understood what the poet spoke

5. Give an example from the extract to prove that the Boss too knew little about the poet.

6. Why did the poet’s visit baffle everyone?

“There was nothing incriminating or unmentionably foul about the actress’s tirade against the producer. But
when she heard her voice again through the sound equipment, she was struck dumb. A girl from the
countryside, she hadn’t gone through all the stages of worldly experience that generally precede a position of
importance and sophistication that she had found herself catapulted into. She never quite recovered from the
terror she felt that day. That was the end of a brief and brilliant acting career — the legal adviser, who was
also a member of the Story Department, had unwittingly brought about that sad end. While every other member
of the Department wore a kind of uniform — khadi dhoti with a slightly oversized and clumsily tailored white
khadi shirt — the legal adviser wore pants and a tie and sometimes a coat that looked like a coat of mail.”

1. Select a word from the extract similar in meaning to ‘propelled’ or ‘thrown’

2. What does the phrase “she hadn’t gone through all the stages of worldly experience” mean?
a) she was a beginner in movies
b) she was not clever
c) she didn’t have enough life experiences
d) she didn’t have good education

3. Which line or phrase in the extract shows the sympathetic concern of the writer towards the actress?

4. Based on the extract, choose a statement that is TRUE for the legal advisor.
a) He disliked the actress from the countryside
b) He acted based on prior plans and thought
c) He did not get well with others in the department
d) He was always dressed smartly

5. What made the legal advisor different from others in the Studio?

6. Find a word from the extract which means the same as ‘outburst’

” He was tailor-made for films. Here was a man who could be inspired when commanded. “The rat fights
the tigress underwater and kills her but takes pity on the cubs and tends them lovingly — I don’t know how
to do the scene,” the producer would say and Subbu would come out with four ways of the rat pouring affection
on its victim’s offspring. “Good, but I am not sure it is effective enough,” the producer would say and in a
minute Subbu would come out with fourteen more alternatives. Film-making must have been and was so easy
with a man like Subbu around and if ever there was a man who gave direction and definition to Gemini Studios
during its golden years, it was Subbu. Subbu had a separate identity as a poet and though he was certainly
capable of more complex and higher forms, he deliberately chose to address his poetry to the masses. His
success in films overshadowed and dwarfed his literary achievements — or so his critics felt.”

1.Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE about Subbu?
a) His literary accomplishments stole the limelight from his films
b) He was a gifted poet and writer and his literary works were noteworthy
c) He was tailor-made for films
d) In any creative crisis, he would come out with new alternatives

2. Find a word in the extract synonymous with ‘custom-made’.

3. Why does the writer say that film making was easy with a man like Subbu?

4. Which of the following made Subbu popular at the Studio?
a) He was a mere follower of Vasan
b) He was a multi-faceted genius and was loyal to Vasan
c) Subbu was a literary figure but not so creative in movies
d) Subbu used to be a great scholar but not practical in ideas

5. What did his critics feel about Subbu?

6. Despite his literary calibre, what kind of poetry did he write?

” Seeing me sitting at my desk tearing up newspapers day in and day out, most people thought I was doing
next to nothing. It is likely that the Boss thought likewise too. So anyone who felt I should be given some
occupation would barge into my cubicle and deliver an extended lecture. The ‘boy’ in the make-up
department had decided I should be enlightened on how great literary talent was being allowed to go waste
in a department fit only for barbers and perverts. Soon I was praying for crowd-shooting all the time.
Nothing short of it could save me from his epics.”

1. The boy in the make-up department was not actually a boy. He was in his........

2. Why did Asokamitran pray for crowd-shooting?
a) it would give him free time to go and see the shooting
b) he would get a role in the movie
c) it would save him from the lecture given by the ‘boy’
d) he would get time to read and write

3. Who was the Boss at Gemini?
a) Vasan
b) Subbu
c) the Make-up boy
d) the legal advisor

4. A cubicle is......

5. What did Asokamitran do at the Studio?

6. What was the boy’s extended lecture about?

“All this shows that there was a great deal of national integration long before A.I.R. and Doordarshan began
broadcasting programmes on national integration. This gang of nationally integrated make-up men could turn
any decent-looking person into a hideous crimson hued monster with the help of truck-loads of pancake and
a number of other locally made potions and lotions. Those were the days of mainly indoor shooting, and only
five per cent of the film was shot outdoors.”

1. Pancake was .......................

2. The tone of the narrator in the extract is....
a) serious
b) sad
c) puckish
d) regretful

3. Find the word from the extract which means “extremely ugly”

4. The writer talks about national integration in the Studio because....
a) The staff of make-up department were from different states of India
b) The movies were made on the themes of national integration
c) The staff were patriotic
d) They were influenced by AIR programmes on national integration

5. What does the writer say in this extract about filmmaking of those days?

6. Why did the make-up men turn a decent-looking person into a monster?