Azhagam Perumal hails from the remote village Kulasekharapuram in Tamil Nadu. All his family members were working in the government service and his parents wanted him to be an engineer. Azhagam Perumal, however, after his graduation, applied to the Adyar Film Institute in spite of stiff opposition from his family. He passed out with a Gold Medal from the Institute in 1991He had initially announced his directorial debut in 1998 as Mudhal Mudhalaaga, a romantic film featuring Arvind Swamy and Karisma Kapoor in the lead roles,[5] which failed to take off. He then started shooting the film Udhaya in 1999 with Vijay and Simran in the lead roles but the film saw massive delays and Azhagam Perumal, meanwhile, began another film, the romantic comedy Dumm Dumm Dumm with R. Madhavan and Jyothika in the lead roles, in which his mentor Mani Ratnam worked as the screenwriter and producer. The film released in 2001 and was a success