Ramanujan Review

Biopic - A genre which demands lot of focus, research, and extraordinary team work. Gnana Rajasekaran, who delivered 'Bharath' and 'Periyar' takes the life history of a great mathematician from our country, Srinivasa Ramanujam this time. He hits bull’s eye with perfect casting and got great support from his crew.

The plot starts from, Kumbakonam, where we get introduced to a prodigy who questions his teacher about what comes if we divide 0/0? From there on, we get to see the natural progression of a genius who is absolutely attracted to numbers and derives various theorems every other day. Ramanujam's love affair with Mathematics and his struggle with other subjects have been carefully carved.

The brilliance of Ramanujam gets appreciated many times from various characters throughout the movie. But the viewers get to see only 2-3 scenes in the entire 160 mines. For example, Ramanujam explains the 'Number Partition' on a journey to a T.T.E & his more simplified way of analyzing how the ducks fly by connecting them to geometrical proportion are such a delight to watch.

It is saddening to a genius who was way ahead of his times wasn't recieved properly in our country due to various barriers. The blind religious beliefs also got a portion to stay fit in the scheme of things without hurting anyone's sentiments. On the wrong side, the writing could have been better on numerous occasions by giving an highlight to what Ramanujam did in his entire 6 years at, Cambridge University to achieve, F.R.S & the prestigious Trinity fellowship. The second half is painfully slow without any interesting narrations for almost 60 mines. The pre-climax portions in which, Ramanujam speaks about how cruel this world would be for a genius who forced to accept mediocrity, deserves a special mention.

Abhinay, the grandson of legendary actors Gemini Ganesan and Savitri gets a perfect launchpad and he will be remembered for this epic role in the future. Bama did well as Ramanujam's wife. Her eyes do the talking for most part. Suhasini as mom presented a matured performance which got a grey tint to some extent. Sarath Babu, Delhi Ganesh, Y Gee Mahendra, Mano Bala, Abbas, Kiity Krishnamurthy and few other notables makes their presence felt in whatever little time they get to do. The dubbing for Prof. Hardy is perfect, but the consistency is missing in other characters.

Ramesh Vinayagam's carnatic songs & western themes are too good. Sunny Joseph's camera emits the true shades of Kumbakonam & London. Sakuntha Rajasekaran's costume work is authentic. The intentions of Gnana Rajasekaran should be appreciated for framing an inspirational personality for this generation, but the impact should have been much better.

Verdict - An honest attempt to drive through the life of a genius gets stuck at lot of bumpers.

Star : 2.3 / 5