Dev Patel Signs on to Play The Man Who Knew Infinity: Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel will play the Indian mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan in the new film The Man Who Knew Infinity. Variety reports that Jeremy Irons “will play G.H. Hardy, the English mathematician who plucked Ramanujan from obscurity in Edwardian India and installed him in Cambridge University.”
India’s Olympic Hopes are on Thin Ice: The country could be expelled from the Olympics unless it gets rid of corruption-tainted officials, says IOC president Thomas Bach. If India is expelled from competition, “it would be the first time a country has been kicked out of the Olympic movement since South Africa was expelled for its racial segregation policies more than 40 years ago,” according to the Associated Press.
Sarita Chowdhury’s Unused Degree: The Mississippi Masala and Homeland star told the New York Times Magazine that she tacked on an economics major to her acting degree while she was studying at Ontario’s Queen’s University. The reason? Her father insisted on it. “I’m almost anti-using it,” she told the magazine when asked if she ever found it useful.
A Posthumous Grammy Nod: The late Ravi Shankar snagged a Grammy nomination for his album “The Living Room Sessions Part 2.” (Variety)
A Terrible Sex Scene: Novelist Manil Suri received the dubious honor of the Literary Review’s bad sex prize for a scene in his book The City of Devi. (The Guardian)
A free download: Pop music fans can grab a free download of Samsaya’s “Stereotype” here. Contributing Editor Rohin Guha wrote about the Norwegian-Indian singer back in September.
And a Children’s Book Giveaway: The Aerogram is giving away one copy of Anita Felicelli’s new children’s book Izzy and Poe. The book tells the story of two corgis who are searching for an adventure when a mischievous parrot convinces them he can show them how to fly. (The book is suitable for children ages 4-8.) To enter the giveaway you must 1) sign up for The Aerogram’s weekly newsletter. 2) Shoot an email to editors@theaerogram.com with the name of your favorite children’s book. A winner will be picked at random on Thursday.
Lakshmi Gandhi is an editor at The Aerogram. Find her on Twitter @LakshmiGandhi and follow The Aerogram @theaerogram.
