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"We are ready to start shooting in a few months," Brown says.

MIT professor Kanigel's 1991 biography The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life Of The Genius Ramanujan has been acclaimed not only for celebrating the mathematician's life and his friendship with Hardy but also for beautifully explaining their mathematical quest.

"Kanigel trusted us with his great work, and he appreciated what we are after," Brown says, adding that he had started reading the book over three years ago when an aunt came across it at her reading club in San Francisco and offered him a copy.

The announcement of the Hollywood project was made on Wednesday. The film is being made by Edward R Pressman, one of the most eclectic of Hollywood producers and whose hits include the current satire Thank You For Smoking, The Crow franchise, and Oscar winners such as Wall Street, Das Boot and Reversal Of Fortune.

The announcement came about two weeks after the British actor and writer Stephen Fry announced his own film to be co-directed with Dev Benegal.

"We had waited to announce our film only because we wanted the script to be ready," Brown says, adding that the story of Ramanujan and Hardy is so intriguing and rich that there was no doubt or hesitation in his mind about going ahead with the project.

Pressman, who has produced 83 films in Hollywood and Europe over three decades, is also not worried about the competition.

'While I can't speak for the Fry project, my sense is we're a bit farther along,' he told Hollywood Reporter.

This would be Brown's second directorial vehicle following the 30-minute long My Father's Garden, a 2002 film shown at the Venice Film Festival.

Brown will start shooting his biopic in the second part of this year. Casting for the film will start in a few weeks.