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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.