Super 30: All you need to know about Anand Kumar, the mathematician Hrithik Roshan will play

Anand Kumar is a familiar name in India, especially among those students who aspire to become engineers. Earlier this year, it was announced that a film titled Super 30 would be made on his life, which would be directed by Vikas Bahl. Reports stated that either Hrithik Roshan or Akshay Kumar (backed by two different producers, Madhu Mantena and Priti Sinha) would play the lead role. After much speculation and many meetings with Kumar himself, it was finally revealed that Hrithik Roshan had been signed on. [caption id=“attachment_4078857” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Hrithik Roshan, Anand Kumar and Vikas Bahl discuss the biopic. Image from Twitter/@HrithikInspires[/caption] Bahl is said to be constantly in touch with Kumar, in order to take into account his own inputs and make sure that he can capture the “true spirit” of the professor’s life. Kumar himself has endorsed the makers’ choice to cast Roshan as he feels that the actor has the requisite versatility and range to portray him on the big screen. Super 30 program The film will reportedly focus on the Super 30 program that Kumar started, which trains 30 Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) aspirants to crack its entrance test. Patna-based Kumar is said to have developed an interest in mathematics during his years in a Hindi medium government school. He was accepted into the Cambridge University in 1994, but could not take up the opportunity because of financial restraints. He began selling papads in the evening with his mother to help run the household. He would also give tuition classes to earn extra money. Every weekend, he would travel to Varanasi in order to gain access to foreign journals at the Benaras Hindu University (BHU). In 1992, he set up the Ramanujan School of Mathematics, where he initially charged a nominal fee in return for coaching students who would appear for competitive exams. He found that even though the fee was quite low, many students could not afford it, and this prompted him to start Super 30 in 2002. The candidates who are part of this programme are meritorious students who belong to low-income families. They are given training, lodging and food prepared by Kumar’s mother — all free of cost. The Super 30 programme gained attention because of its success rate; thus far, 396 of 450 total candidates have been able to crack the IIT entrance test. In 2017 itself, Kumar was able to achieve 100 percent results, as all 30 candidates got admission into the prestigious institutes. This has happened three times in the past. Reports state that although national and international organisations have offered funding and donations for Super 30’s students, but Kumar has declined these offers and continues to fund the programme using the fees he receives from the Ramanujan School of Mathematics. Anand Kumar has been invited to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University to talk about his mentoring strategy. Super 30 will go on floors in September 2017.