Ramanujan
What it is about...
Camphor Cinema's Ramanujan (produced by Srivatsan Nadathur, Sushant Desai, Sharanyan Nadathur and Sindhu Rajasekaran) is written and directed by Gnana Rajasekaran. It features Abhinay Vaddi, Suhasini Mani Ratnam, Kevin McGowan, Anmol, Bhama, Abbas, Michael Lieber, Richard Walsh, Sarath Babu, Radha Ravi and others. Ramesh Vinayakam has scored the music. B. Lenin is the editor. The costumes are designed by Sakunthala Rajasekaran, and P. Krishnamurthy is art director. It is a biopic of renowned Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan.
What they say...
The producers: We are all friends and Sindhu’s father is a national award-winning director. So we approached him. He told us various stories and we decided to do a biopic on the great mathematician. It was a task to work on the script as well as shoot it. Mention must be made of the SASTRA University, which maintains a separate museum dedicated to Ramanujan. It has also preserved the house where he lived. We must thank the institution for its co-operation in this regard.
Director Gnana Rajasekaran: I have films such as Mohamul , my debut, Mugam, Bharathi , and Periyar to my credit. After listening to various stories, the producers decided to do the biopic of Ramanujan as their first film. When I researched the mathematical genius, I was happy to note that The Hindu ’s Kasthuri Ranga Iyengar had helped Ramanujan at one time.There are three scenes highlighting this in the film. The biopic is made like a commercial film, and sure to interest everybody. We shot for nearly 20 days at Cambridge University, as it was here that Ramanujan stayed and worked. Talented artists such as Suhasini Mani Ratnam, Sarath Babu and Nizhalgal Ravi have acted in the movie. The title role was done by Abhinay Vaddi, grandson of Gemini Ganesan and Savithri.
Hero Abhinay Vaddi: My first film was Young India directed by Dasari Narayana Rao, after which I returned to my studies. On coming back to India, I heard that the national award-winning director was directing a film on Ramanujan and I went to meet him. The director, who had seen my photo, called me for an audition. I did it and was had selected me for the title role. As the grandson of Gemini Ganesan and Savithri, I wanted to give something back to the industry and I felt this was the right launchpad for me.
Music director Ramesh Vinayakam: Starting my film career with Yei Nee Romba Azhagaiyirukke,Ramanujan is my 12th movie. I told the director and the producer that as Ramanujan was in Cambridge University, I wanted to compose music that’s appropriate to the theme. So I wanted to record some musical pieces in Germany and they agreed and that part has also come out well in the movie.
Music Highlights: The first on the album ‘Narayana’, written by Vaalee and sung by Vani Jairam and Karthik Suresh, is the best. Vaalee’s lyrics show that he is unparalleled and his demise has left a void in Tamil filmdom. ‘Thulithuliyay’, written by Na. Muthukumar and sung by the composer himself with Vinaya, is another interesting track.
The same song comes in Kaushiki Chakraborty’s voice. Thirumazhisai Alwar’s pasuram ‘Vinkadantha’ is a beautiful composition delightfully rendered by Unnikrishnan. Ramesh Vinayakam’s knowledge of both Indian and Western classical music is proved beyond doubt in the ‘English Notes’, ‘One to Zero’, ‘Ramanujan Theme’ number and the ‘Mystic Mind’. These instrumental tracks are sure to appeal to listeners who enjoy pure music.
