I consider myself a writer first

From writing for Tamil periodicals to directing Ghajini,A R Murugadoss has come a long way

From writing for Tamil periodicals to directing Ghajini,A R Murugadoss has come a long way
Before he started making movies,A.R. Murugadoss wrote short stories for over a decade in the obscurity of his village,in Kallakurichi,Tiruchy district. His stories were published in periodicals and he also wrote a novel,Sumaithangi. For nearly seven years,Murugadoss was an understudy to writer Kalaimani. To himand to many other youngstersmaking movies was a dream.

As a child,I was always fascinated by cinema as a medium. For the viewer in me,the works of Balachander,Bharatiraaja and Maniratnam were like short stories told well in a couple of hours. My interest in movies lingered on as I grew up,inspiring me to write short stories and finally to make movies, says Murugadoss,whose Ghajini is now running in packed houses across the world.

After finishing school in his village,he went to college in Tiruchy to do his BA,while contributing short stories to most Tamil periodicals. I came to Chennai about 15 years ago,and entered the film industry in the late 90s after writing for a decade. For me,cinema is the visual interpretation of my stories,which I would otherwise have written for print. But this is also a big medium with immense impact,making it the carrier of a message to a large number of people, Murugadoss says.
My movies are as much about the message as they are about entertainment. My heroes fight individual villains and also evils like corruptionthat is the message I want to convey. And cinema is a great medium for that, he says/

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He should know. His first Telugu movie,Stalin,was released in 2006 with Chiranjeevi playing the leadsoon after,the star floated his political outfit,Praja Rajyam. And before that there was the Tamil movie Ramana,which resurrected actor Vijayakanths career a few years before he entered politics as the corruption-busterthe role he played in the film. The runaway success of Ramana in 2002the Telugu remake,Tagore,with Chiranjeevi,was also a big hit in the following yearestablished Murugadoss as a director with commercial value.

I entered the world of movies as an assistant director,working with directors like S.J. Suryah,Praveenkanth and Udayashanker for two years,before my first movie,Dheena,happened in 2001. Chakravarti,the producer of a movie Murugadoss was part of as assistant director,introduced the young man to actor Ajit and Dheena happened.

It was my own script about a gangster turning against his minders. Since then,I have directed five films in three languages,all based on my own scripts. It couldnt have happened any other way: I consider myself a writer first and a writer knows the character best. While directing,there is absolutely no confusion about the portrayal of the characters or the plot, Murugadoss says.

Though he has decided to stay put in Chennai for now,Murugadoss successful debut in Bollywood has led to a flurry of offers from various producers there. I am thinking about a script for a Hindi film,but have not finalised anything yet. It may take a month or so before I can decide on something. Just coming out of the tension and grind of a movie release,he is in no hurry.