AR Murugadoss

Murugadoss
Murugadoss at a special screening of Ghajini in 2008
Born Murugadoss Arunasalam
25 September 1974
Kallakurichi, Tamil Nadu, India
Occupation
  • Film director
  • screenwriter
  • producer
Years active 2001–present
Spouse(s) Ramya (m. 2005)

Murugadoss Arunasalam, commonly known with his stage name Murugadoss,[1][2] is an Indian film director, producer, and screenwriter.[3][4] He is best known for his action Tamil films and Telugu films and for remaking them in Hindi cinema. This includes the Suriya-starrer Ghajini (2005) and its Hindi remake Ghajini (2008) starring Aamir Khan, along with the Vijay-starrer Thuppakki (2012) and its Hindi remake Holiday (2014) starring Akshay Kumar. His 2002 Tamil film Ramanaa was remade in Hindi by director Krish as Gabbar Is Back (2015) starring Akshay Kumar as well. Murugadoss won the Filmfare Award for Best Director for his 2014 Tamil action-drama film Kaththi.

Personal life

Murugadoss was born in Kallakurichii, Tamil Nadu.[5] The initials "AR" refer to his father's name Arunasalam and were added after Murugadoss signed his first film, Dheena, in 2001.[2] Murugadoss currently resides in Virugambakkam, Chennai.[6] Murugadoss had his schooling at the Government Higher Secondary School[2] and studied BA in Bishop Heber College, Tiruchirapalli.[7] His brother, Dileepan made his acting debut with Vathikuchi (2013).

Career

Murugadoss with Aamir Khan

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.

S. J. Suryah recommended Murugadoss to Ajith Kumar for directing his debut film, Dheena. His next films were Ramana, Ghajini, and Stalin.Ghajini emerged as one of the biggest blockbusters of all time and elevated the stardom of the lead actor Suriya. 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 ever Bollywood film to gross over 100 crore. There was a controversy that Ghajini was plagiarized from Hollywood film "Memento" [8] 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.[9]

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 entering the Kollywood 100 crores club[10] 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.[11] 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 Ayngaran International released on Diwali 2014 and emerged as the biggest kollywood grosser of 2014 which collected over 150 crores. In 2016, he directed Akira starring Sonakshi Sinha. It is a remake of Tamil film Mouna Guru. Recently, he directed Spyder starring Mahesh Babu and Rakul Preet Singh.[12][13]

Filmography

Year Film Language Director Producer Writer Notes
2001 Dheena Tamil Yes Yes
2002 Ramana Tamil Yes Yes Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film
Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Dialogue Writer
2005 Ghajini Tamil Yes Yes Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film
Nominated, Filmfare Award for Best Director – Tamil
2006 Stalin Telugu Yes Yes
2008 Ghajini Hindi Yes Yes Apsara Award for Best Director
Stardust Award for Hottest New Filmmaker
Nominated, Filmfare Award for Best Director
2011 Engaeyum Eppothum Tamil Yes Nominated, Vijay Award For Best Film
7am Arivu Tamil Yes Yes Nominated, Filmfare Award for Best Director – Tamil
2012 Thuppakki Tamil Yes Yes Nominated, Filmfare Award for Best Director – Tamil
Nominated, SIIMA Awards For Best Director

Nominated, Vijay Award For Best Director

Won, Vijay Award For Favourite Director

Nominated, Edison Awards For Best Director

Nominated, Edison Awards For Best Screenplay

Nominated, Chennai Times Film Award for Best Director

Nominated, Chennai Times Film Award for Best Screenplay

2013 Vatthikuchi Tamil Yes
Raja Rani Tamil Yes Nominated, SIIMA Awards For Best Film
Norway Tamil Film Festival Awards Most Popular Film
2014 Maan Karate Tamil Yes Yes
Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty Hindi Yes Yes
Kaththi Tamil Yes Yes Won, Filmfare Award for Best Director - Tamil
Nominated, SIIMA Awards For Best Director
Nominated, IIFA Utsavam Award for Best Director

Won, Vijay Award For Favourite Director

Nominated, Vijay Award For Best Story, Screenplay Writer

2015 10 Enradhukulla Tamil Yes
2016 Akira Hindi Yes Yes Yes Remake of Mouna Guru
2017 Rangoon Tamil Yes
Spyder Telugu/Tamil Yes Yes
2018 Sarkar Tamil Yes Yes Post production
2019 Rajini 166 Tamil Yes Yes Pre production

References

  1. "Murugadoss: Tamil cinema's golden messenger". N Madhavan. Forbes India. 22 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Murugadoss — Man with the midas touch". SouthScope. Archived from the original on 1 November 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  3. "Aamir's next director speaks". Rediff. 18 April 2006. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
  4. Seenivasan, Meera (22 February 2008). "Murugadoss upbeat over Mumbai entry". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 6 November 2008. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
  5. "I could not even buy a cup of tea for my father with my money: Murugadoss". Priya Gupta, TNN. The Times of India. 3 June 2014. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
  6. "A.R.Murugadoss Biography". Sulekha. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
  7. "Thought of becoming a Naxalite in college days: Murugadoss". Kollytalk. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  8. "Journey of the 100-Crore Bollywood Film - Forbes India Blog". Forbes India. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  9. "Fox International ties up with Murugadoss to produce Tamil films - Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis". Dnaindia.com. 5 September 2010. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  10. "Vijay's Thuppakki makes 180 crore!". Articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  11. Punwani, Umesh (20 June 2014). "Holiday crosses 100 crore at the Box Office". India.com. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  12. "Akira is the title for AR Murugadoss-Sonakshi project?". Sify. Retrieved 2016-11-03.
  13. "Mahesh Babu-AR Murugdoss film heads to Ahmedabad for next schedule - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2016-11-03.
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