Recreating Ramanujan with just two of his photos

Chennai: Armed with just two photographs of legendary mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, a Tamil biopic has recreated his life, right from his small town moorings in Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu to Cambridge in England in a film slated for a July release."We had just two of his photographs for reference. He had got a picture of him clicked for affixing in his passport and the other during another occasion," Sakunthala Rajasekaran, Costume Designer for the film `Ramanujan` said.

Directed by National award-winning director Gnana Rajasekaran, the film is about the life of maths wizard Ramanujan (1887-1920) from Kumbakonam in the late 19th century Tamil Nadu to Cambridge. How did Sakunthala manage to recreate Ramanujan ? "I started from there. Photos were only two.. But thankfully there were useful references, including Ragami`s book on Ramanujan to get the costume right." Importantly, Ramanujan`s physical appearance recounted by his neighbour in a letter that "the genius used to literally run to his office with his tuft flying" helped decide that the maths wizard had tuft during his job with Chennai Port Trust. "Later on,when he went to England he did not have a tuft. The photograph taken for his passport proves this. He was also clean shaven."