Released on the 8th of April across the UK, the film The Man Who Knew Infinity (Dir. Matthew Brown) is based on the life of the Indian mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan. This biographical drama, based on the book by the same name by Robert Kanigel (1991), boasts of a stellar cast – Jeremy Irons, Dev Patel, Toby Jones, Stephen Fry (cameo), and Arundhati Nag, among others. In an exclusive interview with Asian Voice, Dev Patel shared his experience of playing Ramanujan, his personal journey within the film, and his chemistry with Irons.
Dev admitted to being completely unaware of the legacy of Ramanujan before the film. Ramanujan’s contribution to the world of mathematics possessed a level of resilience and nobility, according to him. His biggest learning from the film was that for the mathematician, the rigidness in his beliefs was both a blessing and a curse. It was this rigidity that stopped Ramanujan from conforming completely with the system, but at the same time was the inspiration of his genius, he adds. For the actor, it was particularly difficult to prepare for the role because there was no recorded material, audio or videos, which could be used for imagination or mimicry.
In the words of Dev, The Man Who Knew Infinity is a story of ‘not being confined to a box’. His own journey from being ‘terrified’ of mathematics as a subject to playing one of the greatest minds in the field was ironic, as his father is an accountant by profession. He claimed that unlike biopics which tend to present larger-than-life characterisation, this film manages to strike a balance between ‘the man’ and ‘the hero’. Among his fantastic co-stars, he described Jeremy Irons as an absolute perfectionist. This chemistry between Dev (Ramanujan) and Irons (Prof. Hardy) is certainly the high-point of this biopic. But can we expect to see Dev Patel in a Bollywood film in the near future? “They have got so much talent out there, they don’t need me! I’m just not cool enough for Bollywood”, he quipped.
In the film, Ramanujan is shown to be deeply spiritual and as he himself put it, ‘every mathematical equation is a revelation of God, and therefore is the purest form of truth’. Although the film does justice in underlining the obstacles that were a part of Ramanujan’s time at the Trinity College, it does not do much to reveal what his research was about. Complex mathematical sums and terms used throughout the film might make you feel confused and ‘under-prepared’ to appreciate the enigmatic mind of Srinivasa Ramanujan, whose contributions are now being used by physicists to study the Black Holes. The best part about the film is its performances which make you warm up to the characters. But its biggest drawback is that it leaves you in the dark about the centre of the film – Ramanujan’s contribution to the world of mathematics.
