Updated on: Sept 10, 2025 06:01 am IST
After the release of his Sivakarthikeyan-starrer Madharaasi, director AR Murugadoss shaved his head at the Murugan temple in Palani, here’s why.
Filmmaker AR Murugadoss’s Sivakarthikeyan-starrer Madharaasi was released in theatres on 5 September. A couple of days after the film’s release, the director tonsured his head at the Murugan temple in Palani, Tamil Nadu. In an interview with Post-cut Clarity, he spoke about why he did that, comparing Madharaasi to his first film. Here’s what he said.
AR Murugadoss tonsures head at Murugan temple
Murugadoss was asked in the interview why he shaved his head after Madharaasi’s release. He replied, “I went to the Palani Murugan temple after Madharaasi’s release. I remember going there after my first film, Dheena, and would go there once in a while afterwards. It was important for me to do that because, in a sense, this feels like my first film again. It’s very important to me. I asked God for this movie to succeed.”
He then mentioned the five-year gap in his filmography after the 2020 Rajinikanth-starrer Darbar, claiming that the COVID-19 pandemic made him nervous. “I couldn’t think straight for a year during the COVID-19 pandemic. People like me can only think of limited things at once, and back then, it felt like another World War. We didn’t even know how long it would last. It took me five years to bounce back, and I had two films that didn’t materialise, creating a gap,” he explained.
AR Murugadoss’s filmography
For the unversed, Murugadoss debuted as a director with the 2001 Ajith Kumar, Suresh Gopi and Laila-starrer Dheena. His claim-to-fame, however, is the 2005 Suriya and Asin-starrer Ghajini and its Hindi remake in 2008 with Aamir Khan. Murugadoss even ventured into Telugu with the 2006 Chiranjeevi-starrer Stalin and the 2017 Mahesh Babu-starrer Spyder.
His last film before his 2025 releases was Darbar, which collected ₹247.80 crore worldwide at the box office. After that, his only releases have been the Salman Khan-starrer Sikandar this year in March. The film collected ₹184.6 crore worldwide in its lifetime and failed to make a mark. Madharaasi, which also stars Rukmini Vasanth and Vidyut Jammwal, also received mixed reviews after its release.
