A. R. Murugadoss

Murugadas Arunachalam (born 25 September 1974), known professionally as A. R. Murugadoss, is an Indian film director, screenwriter and film producer 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, 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 domestically. He worked with Vijay again with the box office hits Kaththi (2014) and Sarkar (2018).

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(2001). Murugadoss had his schooling at the Government Higher Secondary School 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.

S. J. Suryah recommended Murugadoss to Ajith Kumar for directing his debut film, Dheena. His next films were Ramana, Ghajini, and Stalin.

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.

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.

On 1 February 2026, it was reported that filmmaker A. R. Murugadoss would direct a high-profile pan-Indian action thriller featuring Sunny Deol and Jyotika in the lead roles, marking the first collaboration between the two actors.

Filmography

As director

As producer

As writer

As an actor

Awards