Happy Birthday AR Murugadoss: Five films that prove his prowess as a director

AR Murugadoss, who turns 45 today, has led an illustrious career as one of India's most eminent directors, producers and screenwriters. His films bring out the reality in a way unexpected by the audiences. To make it happen, he put in extensive research in his projects and makes sure picking up issues and stories that need to be told to the society. Be it Ramana, Stalin, Thuppakki, Kaththi or Sarkar, Murugadoss has made sure that what he presents, matters.

Today, on his special day, take a look at his six films that prove his prowess as a director.

Released in 2002, this Vijayakanth film deals with the life of a college professor, who leads a secret force to eliminate corruption from society. For this to happen, he kidnaps fifteen most corrupt employees from each government department and kills the most corrupted one. Apart from Vijayakanth, the film also stars Simran, Ashima Bhalla, Vijayan, Yugi Sethu, Riyaz Khan, Ravichandran, Rajesh and Mukesh Rishi. Ramana was later remade in Telugu with Chiranjeevi, Kannada with Vishnanuvardhan, Bengali with Mithun Chakraborty and Hindi with Akshay Kumar.

Ghajini was all about a business tycoon, who suffers from short term memory loss after being hit by an iron rod. He decides to take revenge against goons who were responsible for his condition and his lover's murder. Starring Suriya Sivakumar, Asin, Nayanthara and Pradeep Rawat, the film was a massive success at the box office and even received rave reviews from critics. The action-thriller nabbed four Filmfare Awards and nine Tamil Nadu State Film Awards in the years in which it was nominated. It was later remade in Hindi with Aamir Khan in the lead.

7am Arivu is the story of a genetic engineering student, who sets out to awaken the genetic memory of the legendary Bodhi Dharma's descendant to prevent a Biological war between the two most populous nations on the earth. Starring Suriya Sivakumar, this AR Murugadoss film released in 2011 and explored the life a Buddhist monk, Bodhidharma, who is regarded as its first Chinese patriarch. The film was not only received positive reviews from the audiences, but also nominated for Filmfare Award for Best Director – Tamil.

The story of Thuppakki revolves around an Indian Army officer from a Mumbai-based family on a mission to track down and destroy a terrorist group and detect subsequent bomb blasts. Released in 2012, the action-thriller was a blockbuster hit among audiences and critics. And this time, Murugadoss ventured into the world of soldiers to present the story of an ambitious, brave and elite army soldiers who shows great courage in the battle. The film even received several nominations and awards for its Best Story, Best Screenplay, Best and Director. Thuppakki has Vijay and Kajal Aggarwal in the lead roles.

The 2014 movie is all about the manipulations of corporate giants. This is the story of a hydrologist, who fights for the rights of the farmers of his village against a business tycoon who is grabbing their land. The performances of the lead actors were highly praised by critics and became one of the highest-grossing movies of the year. This is a must-watch film for all kinds of movie-goers. Kaththi featured Vijay and Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Tota Roy Chowdhury and Sathish. It won Filmfare Award for Best Director – Tamil and Vijay Award for Favourite Director.