AR Murugadoss

A. R. Murugadoss is an Indian film director and screenwriter who works mostly in Tamil cinema and has also made films in Telugu and Hindi. Fans know him simply as Murugadoss, and he is famous for the Ghajini films, Thuppakki (2012) and Kaththi (2014). His work on Kaththi won him the Filmfare Award for Best Director. He learned the trade as an assistant director on Ratchagan (1997) and then worked with S. J. Surya on Kushi (2000). He made his directing debut with Dheena (2001), followed by the Tamil Ghajini (2005) and Stalin (2006). In 2008 he took Ghajini to Bollywood with a Hindi version of the story. Thuppakki, starring Vijay, started a successful partnership with the actor that carried on through Kaththi and Sarkar (2018), both of which did well at the box office. He went on to direct Holiday (2014), Akira (2016), Spyder (2017), Darbar (2020) and Sikandar (2025). Murugadoss is admired for action films that carry a social message. His Hindi Ghajini was the first Bollywood film to earn over ₹100 crore in India, and Thuppakki was only the second Tamil film to reach ₹100 crore at the domestic box office. He has also written stories for Gabbar Is Back (2015) and Khaidi No. 150 (2017), and he produced films such as Rangoon (2017).