Maths wizard on celluloid

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It is the season when entertainment industry is opening up its vistas and experimenting with themes and subjects. The latest trend is presenting the life and times of inspirational personalities in the form of biopics. Set in the early 1900’s the upcoming film Ramanujan is one such biopic that revolves around the life history of mathematical prodigy Srinivasa Ramanujan.
“At a time when Indian society grapples with its ancient beliefs, trying to reconcile it with western notions of logic, Ramanujan is born into a poor and orthodox Brahmin family in British India. The film tells the story of an Indian mathematician who languished in the grip of a disdainful society and a scornful academia. It means to demonstrate the genius that enabled him to overcome the poverty of his material circumstances and the indifference of his peers to emerge and be recognised as a great savant by the world,” says the director and the screenwriter of the film, Gnana Rajasekaran, who has two biopics — Bharati and Periyar to his credit.
The crew has shot a crucial portion of the movie in the house of the maths wizard. Says Rajasekaran, “It was an exhilarating experience to shoot in the actual rooms where Ramanujan lived and worked in. Shastra University maintains Ramanujan’s house, and kindly allowed us to shoot there.”
Abhinay Vaddi, the grandson of the legendary south Indian star Gemini Ganeshan has been roped in to play the protagonist. “For a biopic to succeed, there should be a physical similarity between the actor and the actual person whose biography it is, especially the eyes. This I found in Abhinay Vaddi’s eyes. Further, at the auditions, Abhinay’s subtle acting impressed me. I believe he possesses a certain credibility that allows him to portray a historical figure, in this case: a genius. So, I chose him for the role,” says the director.
Sharing about his experience of playing the role of the legendary mathematician, Abhinay says, “Ramanujan was a genius and an autodidact who made extraordinary contributions to mathematics. There is so much scope and range of acting involved in playing this real life hero’s character. And being a newcomer, I consider this a dream role,” says Abhinay, who is legendary south star Gemini Ganesan’s grandson.
The film is being shot in English and Tamil, which was one of the major challenges that Abhinay had to face. “Being a Telugu, learning Tamil was a difficult task. And, since period films are set in a specific era, the presentation in terms of costumes, language and make-up has to be done in a particular manner. Playing Ramanujan was a tough task as there were only three to four photographs of him available to fall back for reference,” says Abhinay.
The film produced by Camphor Cinema is tentatively slated to release by the end of this year. Sushant Desai, producer of Camphor Cinema, concludes, “With an international cast and crew, this has been an interesting collaboration. We are keeping the authenticity of the character and history, and are following Ramanujan’s journey from Kumbakonam to Cambridge. The aim is to produce films that tell human stories and bridge the gap between ‘art’ and ‘commercial’ categories.”