AR Murugadoss hasn't made an engaging film since Thalatpathy Vijay's Kaththi in 2014. Sarkar, which was released in 2018, is considered good by Vijay's fans (who can accept any substandard nonsense) but its plotting was ridiculously laughable. Mahesh Babu's SPYder and Rajinikanth's Darbar were unwatchable. And now, Salman Khan's Sikandar has been adjudged one of the worst superstar Bollywood vehicles in a decade.
Director Shankar, who has made two back-to-back disasters (Indian 2 and Game Changer) and whose bad image has almost killed Indian 3 even before its release, has been clubbed with ARM as a star Tamil director who has lost his mojo. While Shankar has been on a calamitous streak in the last few years, his craft and creativity were unparalleled for a longer period of time than ARM's (even during his heyday, ARM was just above average).
ARM's career took off mainly with Ghajini in 2005. By then, Shankar had made half a dozen classics with great music and extraordinary songs. None of the songs in any of ARM's films (with the exception of Ghajini perhaps) can match Shankar's creative prowess even remotely. Shankar's creative deterioration started much later. Murugadoss awaits the release of Sivakarthikeyan's Madharasi later this year.
