Murugadoss Arunasalam (born 25 September 1974), commonly known as A. R. Murugadoss,[1][2] is an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter who predominantly works in the Tamil film industry.[3][4] He is best known for directing action films mainly on social issues. In addition, he has worked in Telugu films and Hindi films. Murugadoss won the Filmfare Award for Best Director for his 2014 Tamil action drama Kaththi.
Murugadoss' first break in the film industry was as an assistant director of Ratchagan (1997). He then worked with S. J. Surya for the film Kushi (2000) before directing his first film, the Ajith starrer Dheena (2001). His first Bollywood film was Ghajini (2008), a Hindi remake of his Tamil film of the same name. It became the first Bollywood film to gross over ?100 crore (US$13 million) domestically.[5] In 2012, he directed the action thriller Thuppakki, starring Vijay, which became the third Tamil film to gross ?100 crore at the domestic box office alone.[6] He worked with Vijay again with the box office hits Kaththi and Sarkar (2018).
Murugadoss with Aamir Khan in 2009
During his college days, Murugadoss was active in cultural events, particularly in mimicry and drawing.[2] He subsequently became a cinephile watching up to seven films a week in his hometown and started writing jokes as well. After Ananda Vikatan published them, Murugadoss began to think of becoming a story writer.[2] At Bharathidasan University he started to write sketch comedies and acted in them.[2] After college he tried to join the Madras Film Institute, but was rejected. Nevertheless, Murugadoss stayed in Chennai in multiple functions. First he became an assistant writer of P. Kalaimani and wrote dialogues for the Tamil film Madurai Meenakshi. He became assistant director of Ratchagan (1997) for half of the film and continued as assistant script director for the Telugu film Kalusukundam Ra.[2] Murugadoss then worked with S. J. Surya for the film Kushi.
In 2003, he contemplated making a film titled Varathan with Vikram in the lead role for producer Oscar Ravichandran, but later moved on to other projects.[9]
S. J. Suryah recommended Murugadoss to Ajith Kumar for directing his debut film, Dheena. His next films were Ramana, Ghajini, and Stalin. His fifth film was Ghajini, which was a Hindi remake of his same-titled 2005 film and marked his Bollywood debut. It released on 25 December 2008 and became the first Bollywood film to gross over ?100 crore domestically.[5] His next Tamil film 7aum Arivu, was released on Diwali 2011 and was more successful outside India than in Tamil Nadu. Murugadoss signed a deal with Fox Star Studios to produce two Tamil films.[10]
In 2012, he directed the action thriller Thuppakki, starring Vijay and produced by S. Dhanu released on Diwali 2012 to mostly positive reviews and became the fourth Tamil film to enter the ?100 crore club[11] after Enthiran. Thuppakki collected over ?180 crores as reported by producer. He also directed the Hindi remake of the film, Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty.[12] In 2014, he was the writer and producer for the fantasy film Maan Karate starring Sivakarthikeyan which was directed by his former assistant Thirukumaran.
In 2014, he directed the action drama Kaththi starring Vijay and produced by Lyca Productions released on Diwali 2014 and emerged as one of the top-grossing films in Kollywood for 2014, collecting an estimated ?131 crores. In 2016, he directed Akira starring Sonakshi Sinha. It is a remake of Tamil film Mouna Guru. Then, he directed Spyder starring Mahesh Babu and Rakul Preet Singh.[13][14] He joined with Vijay once again for the movie Sarkar which is produced by Sun Pictures Kalanithi Maran which released on 6 November 2018 for the Diwali. It released in over 3000 screens around the world.[15] The next, his film Darbar starring Rajinikanth was released on 9 January 2020.[16]
As director, producer, and writer
| Year | Film | Language | Director | Writer | Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Madurai Meenakshi | Tamil | No | Yes | No | Dialogues only |
| 1997 | Poochudava | Tamil | No | Yes | No | Dialogues only |
| 2001 | Dheena | Tamil | Yes | Yes | No | Director Debut |
| 2002 | Ramana | Tamil | Yes | Yes | No | Director |
| 2005 | Ghajini | Tamil | Yes | Yes | No | Director |
| 2006 | Stalin | Telugu | Yes | Yes | No | Director |
| 2008 | Ghajini | Hindi | Yes | Yes | No | Remake of Ghajini |
| 2011 | Engaeyum Eppothum | Tamil | No | No | Yes | Producer |
| 2011 | 7am Arivu | Tamil | Yes | Yes | No | Director |
| 2012 | Thuppakki | Tamil | Yes | Yes | No | Director |
| 2013 | Vathikuchi | Tamil | No | No | Yes | Producer |
| 2013 | Raja Rani | Tamil | No | No | Yes | Producer |
| 2014 | Maan Karate | Tamil | No | Yes | Yes | Producer |
| 2014 | Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty | Hindi | Yes | Yes | No | Remake of Thuppakki |
| 2014 | Kaththi | Tamil | Yes | Yes | No | Director |
| 2015 | 10 Endrathukulla | Tamil | No | No | Yes | Producer |
| 2016 | Akira | Hindi | Yes | Yes | Yes | Director |
| 2017 | Rangoon | Tamil | No | No | Yes | Producer |
| 2017 | Spyder | Tamil / Telugu | Yes | Yes | No | Director |
| 2018 | Sarkar | Tamil | Yes | Yes | No | Director |
| 2020 | Darbar | Tamil | Yes | Yes | No | Director |
As actor