Movie: Ramanujan
Director: Gnana Rajasekaran
Cast: Abhinay Vaddi, Bhamaa, Suhasini Maniratnam, Nizhagal Ravi, Y.Gee Mahendran, Sarath Babu, Radha Ravi, Thalaivasal Vijay, Abbas
Rating: ***
The story of “Ramanujan” is a household story in India. It’s not the story of a genius, but one about how we treat a genius, how we want to change a genius into an ordinary man, how we expect a genius to be jack of all trades; master of none, how we want to prove that a genius is equivalent to being crazy and how we fail to celebrate a genius.
That Ramanujan is a mathematics wizard is a known fact, but did you know that he struggled to earn two square meals a day for many years in his life because he couldn’t earn a suitable job. But the problem was not with a suitable job, it was with those people who failed to understand him, his unmatchable intellect and talent.
The problem started from his family. All that his father wanted from Ramanujan was a college degree, a secure job that will relieve him off the responsibilities of a breadwinner for the family. Because you see in India, there’s a rule that when you’re sixty years old, you’re free to retire from all your duties. He least cared about his son’s outstanding talent with the numbers. In high school, Ramanujan is denied scholarship because he’s told that the management is happy with mediocre students in all subjects, instead of a genius in one. He faces similar reaction from mostly everybody around him, except a few who truly treat Ramanujan as a genius.
These aforementioned moments from the initial years of Srinivasa Ramanujan make up for an inspiring story provided if one knew how to package them. But the way national award-winning filmmaker Gnana Rajasekaran narrates this story leaves you inspired but his work doesn’t resonate deep within. He merely recreates on screen several important episodes from Ramanujan’s life, from his school-going days to the minutes leading up to his death at 32, completely ignoring the need to build a screenplay to keep the viewers hooked. It is one episode after another making us feel sorry and miserable for Ramanujan.
On the flipside, we have a talented debutant playing Ramanujan to the hilt. You could see Ramanujan in Abhinay, literally, and his portrayal of the genius is nearly flawless. He is fittingly supported by Suhasini Maniratnam as his over-protective mother, which she pulls off with aplomb. You can find shades of gray in Suhasini’s role and some sarcasm too, but she’s the way she is for a reason and when that’s finally revealed, you empathize for her. Other notable performances come from Nizhagal Ravi and Y.Gee Mahendran.
While efforts are taken to portray Ramanujan as a genius, who is rejected by the society, there’s also a mention that he hallucinates regularly. In an important scene, in Cambridge University, students of Professor Hardy, ask him why he helps Ramanujan who believes that answers to his mathematical questions are given to him by god. To which, Hardy replies that it’s that belief that has kept the genius in him alive and therefore he doesn’t want to disturb it. It’s a brilliant scene because beliefs are what we made of, and when that’s broken we become hollow inside.
Of the few things to like about “Ramanujan”, Ramesh Vinayakam’s music is life-affirming. It is in sync with the era in which the film is set, oscillating between classical music and tunes of strings. A refreshing bhajan by Vani Jayaram in the beginning is one of the best tracks of the album.
With tighter editing, “Ramanujan” would’ve been engaging despite its sluggish narrative.
First published in IANS