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A Film Review

THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY

Director: Matthew Brown
Actors: Dev Patel, Jeremy Irons, Toby Jones, Devika Bhise, Arundathi Nag
Duration: 1 hour 48 min
Genre: Biopic
Year Released : 2015 (TIFF), 2016 (UK)
Overall Rating: 8.1/10
Click to watch the trailer

Writer-director Matthew Brown’s adaption of Robert Kanigel’s book The Man Who Knew Infinity is a timid and reverential representation that skims over the complex and sad story of genius Indian mathematician Srinivas Ramanujan, who died at the young age of 32. The story is recounted from the point of view of English mathematician and Ramanujan’s (Dev Patel) mentor at Cambridge, G. H. Hardy (Jeremy Irons) who describes their brief interaction as “the one romantic incident in my life".

Ramanujan leaves behind his simple life and new bride, Janaki (Devika Bhise), in Madras to travel over the seas to pursue his passion for numbers. An autodidact

a self-taught person

, he says these equations and proofs come to him via his Goddess, Kali

In Hinduism, the goddess of time, doomsday and death or the black goddess

. His claims and colour evoke anger, overt racism and expose the deep-rooted prejudice in England of the early 1900s. Hardy, an atheist, also does little to understand Ramanujan, his sole interest seemingly being intellectual collaboration.

Dev Patel doesn’t bring much to the table as Ramanujan, as we try to keep looking for something beyond his perpetually troubled expression. He is a man who is troubled by poverty, away from his wife and mother at home; a Brahmin isn’t allowed to cross the oceans, he iterates. He is a man who is not only aware of his genius but is also arrogant about it. He is also prone to frequent illnesses.

After he lands in England, S. Ramanujan is diagnosed with tuberculosis

a fatal lung disease

. He recovered partially but died because of it a year later. An important part of the film is Hardy’s relation with Ramanujan, but it has few emotional beats going for it.

Apparently a lot of work was put into getting the mathematics right. The film roped in top mathematicians such as Ken Ono and Manjul Bhargava to ensure that and it took the film about 10 years to make. To its credit, the film makes complex mathematics fairly accessible, even to a non-math person. That's why this movie becomes a hit number.

Growing up poor in Madras, India, Srinivas Ramanujan Iyengar earns admittance to Cambridge University during WWI, where he becomes a pioneer in mathematical theories with the guidance of his professor, G.H. Hardy.

Though many were acquainted with Dr. Ramanujan Srinivasan as an inspiring Indian, they got to know much more through this movie. On watching this, they saw the stark racism during the war years shown against him by the British soldiers and its horrors. It also showed how Srinivas faced the problem in convincing G.H. Hardy through the facts, figures and mathematical theorems that came in his dreams. Then he was invited to be a fellow of the Trinity college.

For a layman Indian, it's direction is thoroughly appreciated. It also shows how Srinivas's wife suffers the separation from him when her overbearing mother- in - law doesn't even post her letters to him, interested only in the glory of her son. The short period in which he lived a life of so much intensity is worth emulation for all the people of the world.

The biopic has received several awards like Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films Award, U.S.A. in 2017; Indiana Film Journalist Association, U.S. in 2016; Yoga Awards in 2017. The main lead (Dev Patel) himself has received the award of overexposed actor. It had earned the overall income of 1.23 crores USD in initial year of release.

With a strong story and amazing cinematography, this inspirational movie is a must watch for all mathematics lovers.





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Word Count: 773
Written for "Write a Movie Review"  as an assignment for "Rising Stars Summer Camp"