Maths biopics go to war

Stephen Fry and Matthew Brown are making rival biopics of maths prodigy Srinavasa Ramanujan Iyengar.

Mar 30 2006

Biopics of maths prodigies are like buses – you wait ages for one and then two come along at once.

Stephen Fry is planning a film about Srinavasa Ramanujan Iyengar, a self taught mathematical genius who left the slums of Madras during WWI to study at Cambridge and went on to co-author several highly advanced maths theories.

Fry is co-writing the script with Dev Benegal and is planning to direct the picture in India and the UK this autumn.

And today Screen Daily announced a rival Ramanujan biopic based on Robert Kanigel's 1991 biography 'The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan'.

Matthew Brown will write and direct, and speaking of his involvement in the project, producers Edward R Pressman and Sofia Sondervan said: 'His vision for the film will bring the true genius of Ramanujan to life on the screen in a way that we think will be as accessible to Western audiences as 'Gandhi' and 'A Beautiful Mind'.

Whether both films make it into production remains to be seen, but rest assured The TOMB will keep you informed.

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