Rajasekaran's new film remembers Ramanujan and his brilliance

It’s evident that director Gnana Rajasekaran is passionate about his latest film, a biopic of Srinivasa Ramanujan. Titled Ramanujan, the film traces the Indian mathematical genius’ journey from a small town in Tamil Nadu to the prestigious University of Cambridge in England. Biopics are something of a specialty for Rajasekaran, who has made films on the lives of the poet Bharathi and the politician Periyar EV Ramasamy before this. He chose to make Ramanujan a bilingual film (in Tamil and English) and was inspired to make the film out of admiration for Ramanujan’s prodigious gift. “In India, we don’t celebrate geniuses – we celebrate only mediocrity,” said Rajasekaran. “We don’t know how to nurture a genius. Ramanujan was not nurtured as a genius should be – his father was not impressed with his maths skills as a child and when he joined college he was told by the principal, ‘We don’t need a genius in one subject; we prefer an average student across all subjects.’ Even today, in India it is the same story - society favours average students and geniuses are hardly encouraged and treated as special and receive the nurturing they deserve as compared to Western society.” It was while watching the Academy-winning film Good Will Hunting that it struck Rajasekaran that Ramanujan was celebrated in the West but most Indians didn’t know much about the mathematician. “This is sad,” he says. “Even if someone is brilliant, in our society we think it’s more important for the person to fulfil all other aspects – he or she needs to be a good spouse, good child, good human being, good parent, etc. We don’t allow a child’s intrinsic talent to develop and allow the child to pursue his or her passion. The parents decide what the child will grow up to be and in this process, the child’s brilliance dies out. In Ramanujan’s case, in spite of all that went against him, he still went on to prove himself a genius.” [caption id=“attachment_1618355” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A still from the film, Ramanujan.[/caption] Ramanujan stars actors Gemini Ganesan and Savitri’s grandson Abhinay, Suhasini Mani Ratnam, Kevin McGowan, Bhama and Abbas, among others. The The music of the film is by Ramesh Vinayagam and has received rave reviews. “Ramesh has extensive knowledge of both Carnatic and Western music and he was perfect for this movie,” said Rajasekaran. “Ramanujan came from a traditional Iyengar family in Kumabakonam and from there, he travelled to England. The different nuances and cultural sensibilities had to be captured correctly.” Vinaygam’s soundtrack proved to be a critical element in the storytelling. Abhinay has put in lot of effort to play Ramanujan, but one wonders if a seasoned actor would have been more fitting for the role. Suhasini Mani Ratnam is perfect as his domineering and manipulative mother, while Bhama too essays her role as his timid wife well. Some of the British actors, however, are a letdown. The film is a tad too long (three hours!) because the director is eager to showcase Ramnujan’s entire life on screen. Perhaps focusing just on the latter part of Ramanujan’s life would have improved it in cinematic terms. However, The film turns out to be something of an education because of how carefully Rajasekaran has documented the mathematician’s life. Rajasekaran spent a year and a half researching his film and there are many, many lesser-known details from the mathematician’s life that Rajasekaran has woven into his film. For instance, Ramanujan always scored full marks in Maths but failed other subjects. His faith in the goddess Namagiri (a form of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi) was unflagging. Ramanujan’s mother was possessive and didn’t get along with his wife, Janaki Ammal (as per the custom of the times, Ramanujan had a child bride). Rajasekaran wants audiences to know that the impact of Ramanujan’s work was far-reaching. “You will learn that Ramanujan’s brilliance and contribution to discoveries today, like in cryptology, have not been given the due recognition it deserves,” he says. Many of the formulae put out by Ramanujan have been extensively researched and used for significant achievements by Western scientists and researchers. Yet, for all of Rajasekaran’s admiration, he is not blind to the mathematician’s weaknesses. “I would say he was timid and quiet,” said Rajasekaran, whose film shows Ramanujan’s lack of self-confidence. “He was religious and orthodox and only focused on maths. In fact, it was Professor Hardy who presented his paper to the London Mathematical Society. However, he never fell into despair because of his situation. That’s a lesson in itself,” said Rajasekaran. Ramanujan may not be a commercial masala-filled Tamil flick but the director’s message is clear: a genius should not be treated as ‘abnormal’, but as someone who is special. Rajasekaran is hopeful that Ramanujan will click with the Tamil audience. “I have studied the North, Malayalam and Tamil audiences and I find that the Tamil audience is most appreciative of offbeat cinema,” he said. For Rajasekaran, Ramanujan is the film that’s closest to his heart. “We have not spared any cost on any aspect of the film including costumes, cinematography, locations, etc,” he said. The director is now gearing up to release the English version globally.