A. R. Murugadoss

Biography

Murugadoss Arunasalam (born 25 September 1974), commonly known as A. R. Murugadoss, is an Indian film director, producer, and screenwriter who predominantly works in the Tamil film industry.

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.

He would then go on to direct 7 am Arivu in 2011, which would become the first non-Rajini 100cr grosser in Tamil cinema. 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. He worked with Vijay again with the box office hits Kaththi and Sarkar (2018).

Murugadoss was born in Kallakurichi, Tamil Nadu. The initials "AR" refer to his father's name Arunasalam and were added after Murugadoss signed his first film, Dheena, in 2001. Murugadoss currently resides in Virugambakkam, Chennai.

Murugadoss had his schooling at the Government Higher Secondary School and studied BA at Bishop Heber College, Tiruchirapalli. His brother, Dileepan made his acting debut with Vathikuchi, which is Murugadoss' production venture.

During his college days, Murugadoss was active in cultural events, particularly in mimicry and drawing. 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.

At Bharathidasan University he started to write sketch comedies and acted in them. After college, he tried to join the Madras Film Institute but was rejected. Nevertheless, Murugadoss stayed in Chennai for 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. Murugadoss then worked with S. J. Surya for the film Kushi.