A. R. Murugadoss

Personal life

Murugadoss was born in Kallakurichi, Tamil Nadu. The initials "AR" refer to his father's name Arunachalam 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 in Bishop Heber College, Tiruchirapalli. His cousin, Dileepan made his acting debut with Vathikuchi, which is Murugadoss' production venture.

Career

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 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. 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.

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 in 2008 and became the first Bollywood film to gross over 100 crore domestically. His next Tamil film 7 Aum Arivu, was released in 2011. Murugadoss signed a deal with Fox Star Studios to produce two Tamil films.

In 2012, he directed the action thriller Thuppakki, starring Vijay and produced by S. Dhanu released in 2012 to mostly positive reviews and became the second Tamil film to enter the 100 crore club domestically alone after Enthiran. Thuppakki collected over 180 crores end of its run as reported by the producer. He also directed the Hindi remake of the film, Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty. 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 in 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 the Tamil film Mouna Guru. Then, he directed Spyder starring Mahesh Babu and Rakul Preet Singh. He joined with Vijay once again for the movie Sarkar which is produced by Sun Pictures Kalanithi Maran which released in 2018 for the Diwali. It was released in over 3000 screens around the world. The next, his film Darbar starring Rajinikanth was released in 2020.

After five years, Murugadoss made his directorial comeback in 2025 with two films Sikandar with Salman Khan, and Madharaasi with Sivakarthikeyan.

In early February 2026, it was reported that actors Sunny Deol and Jyotika would collaborate for the first time in a high-profile action thriller directed by A.R. Murugadoss, with production scheduled to begin in February.

Filmography

As director

As producer

As writer

As an actor

Awards

References

References

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2. "Murugadoss — Man with the midas touch". SouthScope.
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4. Seenivasan, Meera. (22 February 2008). "Murugadoss upbeat over Mumbai entry". [[The Hindu]].
5. (27 November 2012). "'Thuppakki' Box Office Collection Crosses ₹100 Crore Mark: Vijay's Biggest Grosser Ever".
6. (3 June 2014). "I could not even buy a cup of tea for my father with my money: Murugadoss". [[The Times of India]].
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10. "Journey of the 100-Crore Bollywood Film - Forbes India Blog".
11. (5 September 2010). "Fox International ties up with Murugadoss to produce Tamil films - Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis".
12. "Vijay's Thuppakki makes 180 crore!".
13. Punwani, Umesh. (20 June 2014). "Holiday crosses 100 crores at the Box Office".
14. "Akira is the title for AR Murugadoss-Sonakshi project?". Sify.
15. "Mahesh Babu-AR Murugdoss film heads to Ahmedabad for next schedule". The Times of India.
16. (5 November 2018). "Vijay's Sarkar to hit more than 3000 screens worldwide".
17. "AR Murugadoss talks about 'Darbar', Rajinikanth and more".
18. "Salman Khan's Fiery Look In New Sikander Poster Excites Fans, Eid Release Confirmed".
19. "AR Murugadoss's Upcoming Film With Sivakarthikeyan Is Titled Madharasi".
20. (27 January 2026). "Sunny Deol and Jyotika to team up for action thriller backed by A.R. Murugadoss". Times of India.
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41. [https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/telugu/movies/news/siima-awards-2019-heres-a-complete-list-of-nominees/articleshow/70287216.cms SIIMA Awards 2019: Here’s a complete list of nominees]