The First Class Man is about the mathematical genius' friendship with G.H. Hardy
Roger Spottiswoode, best known for his James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, is working on a movie on mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan starring Rang De Basanti actor Siddharth.
Spottiswoode, who is part of the international competition jury of the Mumbai Film Festival, said the film was not a biography of Ramanujan who died at the young age of 32. It will rather deal with his friendship with G.H. Hardy, the man who first spotted his talent in Cambridge.
Titled The First Class Man, the film's scripting has been completed and shooting is being planned from next year.
“We are putting the finance together, hoping to shoot next year. One of my friends recommended Rang De Basanti and Siddharth was brilliant in that. He came to England and loved the script,” Spottiswoode told PTI.
Focus on friendship
He said the film would capture the unusual friendship between Hardy and Ramanujan and he is looking forward to find an Indian producer.
“Hardy thought that Ramanujan could be brilliant and as it turned out the young Indian was more talented than him. They collaborated for four years and wrote wonderful papers. It was a wonderful friendship between the two because Ramanujan was deeply spiritual while Hardy was only interested in cricket and mathematics,” the director says.
“An American writer found Ramanujan and wrote a play about him for 10 years. He showed me the draft and I became interested. He wrote a script on it, which later won a prize at Tribeca for best script about science. We have nurtured it,” he says.
Talking about the title, Spottiswoode recalled a famous anecdote.
“When Ramanujan arrived in England, Hardy introduced him to Cambridge with a nice speech and called him ‘The First Class Man' and Ramanujan later thanked Hardy, saying ‘You are a first class man.' My film is more like King's Speech,” he says.
Keywords: Roger Spottiswoode, actor Siddharth, James Bond director, The First Class Man, Srinivasa Ramanujan
because our producers and directors are running behind money they only
want profits out of it they dont want satisfaction that they done a good
movie karka cinema industry had became nice place for bussiness for the
ppl who want to make money out of it and nothing else more than that plz
if our youth real having an intrest in picturizing a documentries and
movies with passion dont think of financial support if ur really
passionate to picturize a movie with good mean money follows you
It is a laudable project to project the Indian mathematics prodigy to the world. I feel that the Information Ministry should insist that people like Mr.Alladi Ramakrishnan should be associated with the presentation to ensure that there are no deviations and sacrifice of truth for cinematic reasons. I remember another member of the Alladi family (I don't remember his name) is also connected with Maths research.
We don't imagine in such ways because, history is a Western concept, while mythology is the Indian concept. We make sense of our lives in the grand schemes of mythology, while 'history' offers a linear scale within which the Western mindset relates and acts in life (have you heard of, i believe, Gore Vidal's expression: United States of Amnesia...). Simple people have simple visions and there is something to be said for that. Remember, most socio-politically active Indians don't post a million comments on various websites either...not that either is wrong, but we should be careful with our thoughts.
Remember "A beautiful mind"-Now was that not too dramatized with enough romance and cuteness? BTW, Ramanujan was known to be affectionate with his wife, and it even took a pronounced turn after his return from England...he used to call his wife "home". What an absolute compliment! So, a bit of romance and flirting will not be really out of place, right?
Thats a grt news indeed,but i agree tht siddharth doesnt fit the role of
a genius like Ramanujan. Anyways good luck.!
The current generation all but forgotten this genius. I hope this film will inform Indian how great he was and how selfless Hardy's help was. I hope Doordarshan and other Indian companies take initiative to bring lives of Indian greats to the small (TV) or big screens (Cinema)
I go with R.K.Natarajan....
Yeah, even I think Madhavan would be a better choice. Siddharth looks like a school kid
The producers of the movie must keep this in mind that the movie may not be a commercial success. Indians have long forgotten to watch good movies.By good movies ,I mean movies which have a logical structure, which don't have any background music or dream sequences and which depict humans as they really are. Almost all the Indian movies are full of logical contradictions , escapist tendencies ,a complete absence of realism and objectiveness and full of sentimental harping. This is the most pathetic thing about Indian movies.
Though this is true of many of world cinema,in India we only know this kind of cinema.
Easy! Indians do not appear to be a very grateful variety!Do not care for history or heritage.
Mr prateek in india we have lot of talented directors and producers who can bring up good films,but people are more keen to watch star oriented films. Also there are movies based on great indian people in india itself which we are not aware of,as our country is multilingual.
This will be a great tribute to a simple but brilliant man. Like other similarly brilliant people who rarely reap monetary benefits in their lifespan from their brilliance but leave people awe-struck for generations to come -so was Ramanujan.It was sad that his life was cut short while so young.
Indian peoples are not able recognize their own jewels and they are also not able to justify their characters since they lack inn capacity..
Well, i agree with Natarajan.
Indian producers are busy making third class masala movies. I also think that work on the script is the most important thing in making the film on great personality which all our director/producer lacks.
I hope this movie does good in India. That would help pave the way for more movies on other distinguished Indians, who are known and regarded everywhere but in India.
I only hope the movie gives enough credit to the genius of Ramanujam isntead of projecting the role played by Hardy in giving Ramanujam the opportunity. In the movie Gandhi the name that appears after Ben Kingsley was that of Candice Bergen who played the role of the brit who came to serve at the ashram rather than that of Nehru, Patel or Jinnah.
I m happy that siddarth got this movie...wonderfull platform to showcase his talent
A good point taken up by prateek. Why it is like that we do not understand the worth of our own leaders who gave India a name. These people can become role models for our new generation. We can give cultural exposure also to the people of this country and people around the world. Gandhi was made by a by a British and now Ramanujam also being made by a foreigner. Why we do not involve ourselves in making films for our own personalities. Indian filmmakers should come ahead and make movies on those people and events too. In the past there have been some brave attempts such as Sardar,bose and a movie on Harishchandrachi factory. But we need to look more in the past.
India and the whole world is proud of Ramanujan. Attenborough thought it proper to bring
Out a film on the Father of our nation.Now Spottiswode has decided to bring out a film on
Ramanujan. The move should be appreciated and the theme is on friendship, when the
Horror films are on the increase, a producer has come forward to spread the message of
Friendship. Bouquets to him.
I wish someone made a movie on Kautilya Chanakya. A big budget Hollywood style.
It is better Indian director's don't make movies on great Indians. They dramatise the movie unnecessarily and add unwanted love elements and emotions to score with the audience. The audience in India are also not supportive of such films as all they want in a film is love, duets, action and comedy.
Why people outside india,are the only ones to find interest in making films on great indians.When will our directors and producers find that energy to do the same.
I agree with R.K. Natarajan.
Actor Madhavan would have been a better choice to play Ramanujan who resembles more of him. Siddharth is tall and lanky. Good luck for the production.
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