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The Man Who Knew Infinity backdrop
29 April 2016English108 min

The Man Who Knew Infinity

6.115 reviews
CriticsMixed

Bayesian avg · 15 critic reviews

7.5+ Exceptional · 6.5 Recommended · 5.0 Mixed

7.01 ratings
Users

User Score · avg of 1 ratings

8.0+ Exceptional · 7.0 Recommended · 5.5 Mixed

Matthew Brown DirectorMatthew Brown Screenplay

The Man Who Knew Infinity is a British biographical drama film based on the 1991 book of the same name by Robert Kanigel. The film stars Dev Patel as the real-life Srinivasa Ramanujan, a mathematician who after growing up poor in Madras, India, earns admittance to Cambridge University during World War I, where he becomes a pioneer in mathematical theories with the guidance of his professor, G. H. Hardy .

Critic Consensus

Critical reception for the film is mixed-to-moderate, with most reviewers acknowledging its earnest intent in bringing Ramanujan's story to a wider audience. Jeremy Irons' performance is the most consistently singled-out strength, with several critics noting it holds the film together. The most common criticism is that the film relies on a formulaic screenplay that fails to fully capture the depth of Ramanujan's genius or the complexity of his bond with Hardy, leaving some critics feeling the definitive film on the mathematician has yet to be made. Period detailing and production design also drew praise, though a handful of reviewers found the overall result too safe and cerebrally distant to engage a broad audience.

15 reviews · 8 positive · 1 mixed

Praised: Jeremy Irons' anchoring performanceCriticised: formulaic screenplay underserves subject

AI-generated summary of 15 critic reviews · may contain errors

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Critic Reviews (15)

Shalini LangerTop Critic· Indian Express
7.0
"Well, as anyone who has sat down with a set of seemily incomprehensible numbers and watched them fall into place will know, it is not unlike a spiritual feeling. Ultimately, you could say the film is bigger than the sum of its parts. Should Ramanujan agree."
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Mihir FadnavisTop Critic· Firstpost
"The Mathematics portrayed in the film is fairly diluted so as to make the average audience member understand its concept and also grasp how complex it is and how Ramanujan was a genius to walk through it without batting an eyelid. It would have been more fun if the film's presentation of the Maths was like the stock market detailing in The Big Short, but this will do for now."
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Subhash K Jha· SKJBollywoodNews
10.0
"Here is a rare film that allows us a lucid glimpse into the anguished heart of  ​a ​soul that couldn't fathom the depth of its own brilliance. Almost a century after Ramanujan's death this film unravels the mystique of the unschooled maestro who didn't know why numbers meant so much to him."
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Reagan Gavin Rasquinha· Times Of India
7.0
"The period detailing - be it a rustic locale or sophisticated surroundings - is quite superb. Brown also tries to give the story an emotional touch, to good effect. And in fact, it is this which makes this film both enjoyable and gripping."
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6.0
"Story wise, the makers have done a fine job to keep it to the point. Thanks to Matt Brown for making a film on this mathematician genius who certainly deserves to known in his own country."
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Aleesha Matharu· CatchNews
6.0
"The Man Who Knew Infinity plays it very safe by reducing Ramanujan's life into a well-established sellable movie formula. But it's a wonderful change from the fare we've getting recently."
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Johnson Thomas· Mid-Day
6.0
"...the film's main strength lies in Jeremy Irons' performance. It's one that holds the film together and raises its worth in the eyes of the discerning. While the story is about an extra-ordinary individual it plays out as something a little too cerebral and boring to reach out to a wider audience."
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Suraj Prasad· Deccan Chronicle
6.0
"The Man Who Knew Infinity has played the tropes well and comes very close to how the life and times would have actually been, more importantly, it sparked an interest in the person and his work; work that shaped our understanding of the modern world in numerous ways."
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Bollywood Hungama News Network· Bollywood Hungama
6.0
"...is worth watching as it makes an earnest attempt in enlightening viewers about a great mind who left an incredible mark in the field of Mathematics. Though there are some great performances and sequences, the shortcomings make it just a one-time watch."
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Gautaman Bhaskaran· Hindustan Times
5.0
"In the ultimate analysis, Brown's work may seem more like a piece of exotica -- and this was exactly how Ramanujan was treated by students and professors at Cambridge."
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Sankhayan Ghosh· The Hindu
"To its credit, the film makes complex mathematics fairly accessible, even to a non-math person. But what's the point if one fails to engage with the man behind the math?"
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"The Man Who Knew Infinity is moving, but not as compelling as the real life story of the genius it celebrates. The definitive film on Ramanujan remains to be made; one that will have the heft of The Imitation Game or A Beautiful Mind; one that will sidestep the formulaic screenplay and exotica, but won't shy away from solving equations."
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Rachit Gupta· Filmfare
"It tells an important story and it does make a meal out of the subject. Ramanujan's tale needs an audience because in terms of achievement his contribution to the world of mathematics was perhaps greater than that of Sachin Tendulkar's to cricket."
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Nandini Ramnath· Scroll.in
"The real drama of how Hardy brought out the sparkle in the diamond in the rough is reduced to a clash of working styles. At the heart of Robert Kanigel's book is the indefinable bond between the two men, vastly different in education, temperament, approach and cultural values. A different kind of movie is required for this relationship to find expression."
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BookMyShow Team· BookMyShow
"Although the storyline is decent, it could have been told much better, giving us more insight into his struggles in London. The film fails to leave a lasting impression. Dev Patel tries hard but isn't convincing enough as Ramanujan. We do not get the opportunity to feel for him, when he's been beaten up or when he's diagnosed with advanced tuberculosis, yet persists in writing his proofs. Jeremy Irons outshines Dev Patel, with his genuineness."
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Cast & Crew

Cast

Details

Release Date
29 April 2016
Runtime
108 min
Language
English

User Ratings & Reviews

Users7.01 rating

1 rating from the community

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