AR Murugadoss

Murugadoss, commonly known with his stage name initials as AR Murugadoss, is an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter.

Murugadoss was born in Kallakurichi, Tamil Nadu. The initials "AR", denoting his father's name Arunasalam, were added after Murugadoss signed his first film Dheena (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 brother Dileepan made his acting debut with Vathikuchi (2013).

Murugadoss with Aamir Khan

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.

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 Indian film to gross over ₹100 crores. Murugadoss's next Tamil film 7aum Arivu, was released on Diwali 2011.The movie enters 100 crore club. 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 on Diwali 2012 to mostly positive reviews and was a huge commercial success. Thuppakki entered the ₹100 crore (US$15 million) mark at the boxoffice in just 12 days. He also directed the Hindi remake of the film, Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty which crossed over ₹100 crore (US$15 million) mark at box office In 2014 he was the writer and producer for the fantasy film Maan Karate starring Sivakarthikeyan which was directed by his former assistant Thirukumaran which became a "hit" at box office.

In 2014 he directed the action drama Kaththi starring Vijay and produced by Ayngaran International released on Diwali 2014 to mostly positive reviews and was a huge commercial success.Kaththi was a critically acclaimed film which showcased many issues facing farmers. The movie entered the ₹100 crore (US$15 million) elite at the box office in just 11 days.

In 2016 he directed Akira starring Sonakshi Sinha. It is remake to tamil film Mouna Guru. Post Akira, He is directing a Telugu movie starring Mahesh Babu and Rakul Preet Singh.