Experts hail Ramanujan’s legacy in documentary

Nandan Kudhyadi, who had already made three different docudramas on Ramanujan, says he was fascinated by Ramanujan. “I read books on him and found the story fascinating. I can say that it is India’s first authentic docu-drama,” said the director. 

Born in a small town of Erode, Tamil Nadu (then Madras Presidency), Ramanujan’s journey to excellence began from Kumbakonam. His romance with numbers started from day one of his school. Not letting his humble origin come in the way of his love for maths, he borrowed books from seniors to work on his theorems. The movie tells how the genius in maths lost his scholarship after failing in other subjects in his intermediary school. To his luck, noted mathematician GH Hardy read one of his letters and invited him to Cambridge. 

“The whole idea is to make the audience curious about the subject, so that they go back and check about it on Internet and get inspired. Initially, I wanted to make a documentary on CV Raman, but was told that his centenary is two years later. So it’s better that you make a movie on Ramanujan, whose centenary is just round the corner. And this is how I made my first docu-drama,” he said.

The documentary sees many famous mathematicians talking about Ramanujan’s work, and the wonders it did to the world of mathematics. 

A God fearing person, Ramanujan, who always said, “an equation means nothing to me unless it expresses a thought of God,” was a man of intuition. Not having any formal education in mathematics, he relied on intuition and deduction and not on proof — which to him were obvious truths.

“It’s the same for many creative people. When a writer chooses something particular to express himself, he is intuitive. It plays a role in creative endeavour,” said Nandan. 

The documentary shows the tragic end of the genius at the age of 32. “It was a tragic end to a story of man as great as him,” said Nandan, whose next project is also based on the life of Indian American mathematician Harish Chandra. “It’s a remarkable story. Not many people are aware of his work. I hope it comes up well,” said Nandan.