My Retrospective on A.R Murugadoss
A.R Murugadoss - The name evokes a lot of nostalgia all across cinephiles. As a Filmmaker who balanced strong content and masala elements to make blockbusters. He is credited for having worked with many big stars in a lot of films spanning from Tamil, Telugu and Hindi.
He started out as a storywriter for Vikatan Magazines and later entered the spotlight of Kollywood as a writer and assistant director for filmmakers like Gandhi Krishna and SJ Suryah. It was on the sets of Valee that A.R Murugadoss wrote a story about gangsterism and love and narrated it to its lead actor Ajith Kumar who decided to act in it.
The Story became a basis for a new script and was titled as Dheena which marked his first debut as a director. The music by Yuvan Shankar Raja worked so well in this film. Dheena's release turned out to be a stepping stone into stardom for Ajith who was coined the tagline Thala.
He then did his sophomore directorial Ramanna that starred Vijayakanth in the lead role of a college professor who fights crime as a vigilante. This film was made at a time when Vijayakanth was in his 50s and was planning to start a political journey. It had a heart wrenching climax as the hero is hanged to death by the same corrupt system.
His 3rd project Ghajini was a desi take on Memento by Christopher Nolan. This film featured Suriya as a stylish and suave business magnate who turns into an amnesiac serial killer after a devastating attack that destroyed his girlfriend. Featuring a Haunting BGM as well as a sexiest soundtrack from Harris Jayaraj, this film was credited with making Suriya a top level star.
He then went straight to the heartland of Telugu Cinema with Stalin that featured Chiranjeevi in the lead role of a hot headed ex army man with a golden heart. This film was a resounding success and made Murugadoss a well known name in Telugu cinema. He later flew to Bollywood on a destination; Adapting Ghajini in Hindi. The Hindi version starred Aamir Khan, Asin and Jiah Khan in the lead roles and became a runaway hit with the original actor Suriya praising it further.
The Ghajini team reunited once again for 7aum Arivu which focused on understanding the history and culture of India. It also amalgamated Martial Arts and Science Fiction. It clashed with Vijay's Velayudham which was a superhero film. Both the films did well.
When I think of A.R Murugadoss, I often get to see his works with actor Vijay. Their collaboration started off with Thuppaki that focused on combatting terrorism. This film was credited with giving Vijay's career a sudden resurgence and also bringing out a stylish version of Vijay. Harris as usual stunned us with a killer soundtrack. He would later remake it in Hindi as Holiday with Akshay Kumar that turned out to be a hit.
Vijay reunited with A.R Murugadoss once again for Kaththi which focused on Corporate Enroachment of villages leading to water problems and farmer suicides. For the first time, he joined hands with Anirudh Ravichander who was slowly gaining fame for his works. The film made Anirudh a rockstar to reckon with and also kickstarted the Vijay and Anirudh Combination. This film was more than a movie but also a lesson on how we should always respect the farmers as our caregivers.
A.R Murugadoss went back to Bombay and directed Akira; A Hindi remake of Santhakumar's Mounaguru with a role reversal but unfortunately didn't work at the box office. He later made a spy - science fiction thriller bilingual named Spyder starring Mahesh Babu in his first and only Tamil movie till date. This film also starred his guru SJ Suryah playing a villain. Unfortunately the film tanked so severely at the box office. The most ironic part was that SJ Suryah's performance in a flop movie received praise.
He later worked on Sarkar in his 3rd collaboration with Vijay. This film focused on the theme of political governance and featured him as a corporate raider turned political activist. This film did average at the box office but had such an impact on the government leading to the formation of Section 49 P.
A.R Murugadoss went on to direct Superstar Rajinikanth in Darbar which was about a cop who goes on a rampage to avenge the loss of his daughter at the hands of the drug mafia that he previously curbed. This film unfortunately turned out to be a box office dud and his career went kaput.
With his comeback feature Madharasi arriving on September 5th 2025, We are waiting to see the vintage Murugadoss back in action as the most wanted director who changed Kollywood in the 21st century.
