Ramanujam - the numbers fail to add up!

Ramanujam – the numbers simply don't add up!

Cast:- Abhinay Vaddi as Srinivasa Ramanujan,Suhasini Maniratnam as Komalatammal,Kevin McGowan as G. H. Hardy,Abbas as Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis,Anmol as Young Srinivasa Ramanujan,Bhama as Janaki,Michael Lieber as John Edensor Littlewood,Richard Walsh as Francis Spring,Sharath Babu as Diwan Bahadur R. Ramachandra Rao I. C. S.,Radha Ravi as Prof. Singaravelu Mudaliar,Madhan Bob as Prof. Krishna Shastri,Y. G. Mahendran as S. Narayana Iyer,Manobala as Krishna Rao,Nizhalgal Ravi as Srinivasa Raghavan,Satish Kumar as Anandhu,Thalaivasal Vijay as Sathiyapriya Rayar,Manibharathi as Krishnan,Delhi Ganesh,Raja Krishnamoorthy as Seshu Iyer,T. P. Gajendran as T. Namberumal Chetty,Mohan V. Ram,Cloudia Swann as Ms. Bourne,Mike Parish as Doctor Charles,Harsh Naik as ChatterjeeLizzie Bourne as Ms. Gertrude Hardy,

& the Crew:- S/S/Direction – Gnana Rajasekaran – D.O.P.- Sunny Joseph, Music – Ramesh Vinayagam, Edit – B.Lenin, Art – P.Krisnamurthy

Producers:- Srvatsan Nadathur, Sushant Desai, Sharanyan Nadathur, Sindhu Rajashekaran

Premise – I would like to simply order the content of this film by numbering it to make the reader understand the premise more easily.

Ramanujam as a young boy/young man/adult:-

1.  Educating the teacher about the value of zero.

2.  Working out the timetable in a jiffy for his teacher and principal.

3.  Calculating the number of ‘Kozhakattai’ (dumplings) and ‘Sundal’ (Channa) confounding the priests in the temple.

4.  Learning trigonometry and teaching college students.

5.  Getting kicked out of class for dreaming about math.

6.  Dreaming that the family deity ‘Namadevi’ writes the answer on his tongue (Kalidas?).

7.  Theory of zero and infinity and the Upanishads.

8.  Failing in his exams though securing a centum in math.

9.  Running away from home in frustration.

10. Getting a job at the port trust Chennai.

11.’Durai’ (whiteman/boss) discovers the genius in

  Ramanujam.

12.Desperate to save paper to write his formulas.

13. Discovered by Hardy and invited to Cambridge.

14. Formulas without solutions only results.

15. Ramanujam the vegetarian.

16. Missing his wife.

17. Ramanujam thought to be mad.

18. Attempts to end his life in England.

19. Finally gets recognition in England.    

20. Falls sick, diagnosed with TB. Returns.

21. Finally some recognition back home.

22. TB worsens and Ramanujam passes away.

Emotional quotient:-

1.  Mother’s absolute control and possessive attitude towards

her son.

2.  Father’s a non entity and putty in the hands of his wife.

3.  Wife’ s total submission and love towards Ramanujam

4.  Mother in laws constant endeavors to keep the daughter in law away from her son Ramanujam.

5.  Strong caste prejudices of the vaishnavites.

6.  Whiteman’s constant ability to discover talent.

7.  Namadevi’s consent to go to Cambridge.

The problem with this docudrama/biopic on Ramanujam is though that the incidents have been well researched they are overly spaced out. The films duration of nearly 3 hours simply kills the interest on watching the film. Sadly the director has committed hara-kiri! The film drags on and on and makes one squirm and groan. This film would have been better served if it is telecast as a 6 episode TV serial. Believe me when I say this because I directed a biopic titled ‘Chandra’ based on an India/International table tennis player V.Chandrashekaran. Directing a docudrama is far more backbreaking and frustrating simply because you spend days in researching from records, books, manuscripts, newspaper articles etc and finally end up with so much material that you never really know what to use and what to throw while filming. Though in this film the material available and the duration of the film simply do not tally therefore watching the film is dreary and boring. The most important lesson I learnt from filming a biopic is that ‘shoot all you want but mercilessly edit all content which slows down the premise’. Do not allow personal or emotional attachments to come in the way of doing so! Believe me Ramanujam has really taught me to be even more careful and judicious in editing my present documentary on “Bodhidharma”!

Casting and Acting the biggest plus:-

Abhinay Vaddi as Young Ramanujam has done a great job especially so as a debutant. In fact he has essayed his character very well as Russell Crowe had done in the film A Beautiful Mind. I do have a rather strong inkling that both the actor and the director have keenly watched the film A Beautiful Mind. Coming back to Abhinav after a long time I see genuine talent in an actor and I hope the actor and the Tamil film industry don't frit it away. P.S . Grandson of the late Gemini Ganesan & Savithri.

Suhasini as Komalattamal the mother gives you the feeling that she has simply played her real self and nothing more and nothing less.

Bhama as Janaki  (Ramaujam’s wife) has done more than a decent job. In fact u should give a pat on the back for casting her in this role. She fits the role of a typical conservative Iyengar girl who looks a little too young to be a bride. Her innocence and emotional outbursts certainly fits the bill.

Nizhalgal Ravi/Y.G.Mahendran, show that experience does play a big part in such films.

White Men – Are so amateurish and pathetically bad. They have a lot to learn from their Indian counterparts.

The Rest: - have all played their parts though the young Ramanujam could have been better handled by the director.

Camera: - Goes well with the premise. Slow panning, tilt up and down kind of camera work used by the older and more seasoned Indian Camera men of yore. My only problem with this kind of work in today’s scenario is it makes watching a film a bit of a strain. Finally a word about the scenes shot in Cambridge- the frames are rather empty mostly of Ramanujam and a few others walking lazily sauntering across. It simply fails to the kind of activity in a British university like what was shown in the film A Beautiful Mind.

Music: - Goes with the premise. Vani Jayaram’s vocal rendering at her age is unbelievable. By the way she is now 71! If you are a fan of the classical type of music you will truly like some of the numbers else you can simply walk out and take a breather.

Art: - Krishnamurthy sir, has done a fantastic job. In my opinion he is about the best in the business especially for period films such as this. I know from experience as he worked in my film ‘Thoovaanam’ and my bio pic ‘Chandra’ and believe me he is a producer's dream come true as he executes the job perfectly and meticulously. He is also very cost conscious and never ever overspends a penny! P.s. The number plate being a computer printout was probably the only eye sore if it can be termed as that!

Edit: - Lenin is a very experienced editor but somehow I feel he has let the film drag too long. An hour’s cut would have somewhat helped salvage the film to a certain extent.

What irked me most: - 1. Length of the film. 2. The accent of the English actors and their delivery of dialogues in Tamil/English – simply ridiculous. 3. Showing caste prejudices by singling a particular community which has no bearing on the characterization of Ramanujam.

Bottom line: - “The Numbers were there but the formula was flawed!”

Left Right & Centre: - It felt like watching a film with a theatre full of senior citizens!

Finally a Quote:- "The length of this movie will bring us all together in paralyzing boredom".

My Rating: - Premise - .5 Acting -1 Technicians 1- Total - 2.5/5

Until next time,

Director Haricharan

12/07/2014