Missamma
Missamma is a 1955 Indian Telugu-language romantic comedy film directed by L. V. Prasad. It was produced by Nagi Reddi and Chakrapani on Vijaya Productions banner. The film stars N. T. Rama Rao, Savitri, Akkineni Nageswara Rao and Jamuna. The script was adapted by Chakrapani from Rabindranath Maitra's Bengali play Manmoyee Girls' School. It revolves around two unemployed people — M. T. Rao and Mary — who pose as a married couple to obtain employment in a high school founded by Gopalam, a zamindar. As Rao and Mary fall in love, Gopalam's nephew A. K. Raju learns that Mary is Gopalam's missing elder daughter Mahalakshmi; she is unaware of her true identity.
Production began in early 1954 with P. Bhanumathi cast as the female lead, though she would eventually be replaced by Savitri. The film was simultaneously shot in Tamil as Missiamma, with an altered cast. Principal photography ended that December; filming was delayed because of Bhanumathi's exit after filming a few reels, and the difficulty of managing two casts simultaneously. C. P. Jambulingam and Kalyanam edited the film; Marcus Bartley was the cinematographer, and S. Rajeswara Rao composed the music. Missamma focused on social issues such as unemployment, corruption, and freedom of worship.
Missamma was released theatrically on 12 January 1955, two days before Missiamma. Both versions were commercially successful, completing 100-day theatrical runs. The bilingual film brought recognition to its cast and studio, and words and phrases from Missamma became part of Telugu vernacular. The film was remade in Hindi as Miss Mary, again directed by Prasad. In the same year, it was adapted into the Marathi film Jhakli Mooth. Bapu, Mullapudi Venkata Ramana and Raavi Kondala Rao rewrote and adapted Missamma as Pelli Pustakam in 1991, with the premise of the original inverted: a married couple pretend to be unmarried to obtain employment.
Plot
Gopalam, the zamindar of Appapuram, establishes a high school named after his elder daughter Mahalakshmi. As a child, she went missing during a pilgrimage in Kakinada. Conditions at the school deteriorate due to mismanagement by Gopalam's nephew A. K. Raju, an amateur detective. This is exacerbated by Panthulu, an ayurvedic doctor and teacher in the school, who is more interested in using students to prepare ayurvedic medicines. Gopalam decides to replace them with a married pair of male and female graduates. Besides teaching at the school, he hoped that they would also train his younger daughter, Sita, in traditional music and dance.Mahalakshmi was found and adopted by a Madras-based Christian couple, Mr. and Mrs. Paul, who named her Mary. After graduation, Mary looks for a job to ease her family's financial situation. Mary's father had taken a loan from I.P. David, a loan shark, to pay for Mary's education, and David now offers to waive the debt if she marries him. To repay the debt, Mary agrees to a plan proposed by another unemployed graduate M. T. Rao, whom she meets at a job interview. They pretend to be a married couple to qualify for the jobs at Gopalam's school. Meanwhile, Devayya, who finds clever ways to beg for money, befriends Rao and accompanies them to Appapuram as a helper and cook. They were given accommodation in a small house behind Gopalam's bungalow.
Gopalam and his wife, affectionate by nature, treat the couple as their daughter and son-in-law. Unaware of her own true identity, Mary finds the attention stifling. While she finds the Hindu customs strange, she says nothing to Gopalam and his wife as she needs the job to repay David. She vents her frustration to Rao, who bears it patiently. Sita comes to the couple for music lessons and innocently seeks Rao's attention in the process. This infuriates Mary as she thinks it is not proper for a young woman to do so and also because of her budding romantic feelings for Rao.
In desperation, Mary decides to tell the truth to Gopalam and his wife. To save their jobs, Rao fabricates a story that Mary is possessed by the soul of Mary, mother of Jesus. When Mary implies that she would leave Rao, Gopalam threatens to offer Sita as a bride to Rao. Raju, Gopalam's nephew, who is in love with Sita, wants to keep Rao away from her and turns to Mary for help in teaching music, which ends in disaster. At the end of their first month at the school, Rao and Mary receive their salaries and Mary repays her debt.
Raju begins to suspect that Mary is the missing Mahalakshmi. After Gopalam's wife tells him that Mahalakshmi has a mole on her right foot, he and his assistant Govindan sneak into Mary's room at night to verify but the plan backfires when they awaken her. After a dream in which Rao rescues her from David, Mary's feelings for Rao begin to grow stronger.
As Sita insists on music lessons from Rao, it further infuriates Mary and eventually, she threatens to return to Madras. At first, Rao asks her to stay, but as things get out of control, he tells the Gopalams that Mary is going to Madras to her parents as she is unwell. The Gopalams misunderstand, thinking Mary is pregnant; they host a seemantham and Mary is confused. The night before she is due to leave, Rao pretends his leg is broken in an attempt to delay her departure. David arrives in the morning and tells Raju that Mary, a Christian, is posing as a Hindu for the job. Raju retrieves a necklace, stolen by David from Mary's house in Madras, which Mahalakshmi was wearing when she disappeared.
David wants to marry Mary, but she declares her love for Rao. The Pauls arrive at Gopalam's house; Raju solves the mystery, and David is arrested. Although Mary learns that Gopalam and his wife are her biological parents, she reiterates her relationship with her foster family. Learning that Rao and Mary are not yet married, Gopalam announces their wedding and that of Sita and Raju.
Cast
Production
Development
and Chakrapani signed L. V. Prasad to direct a bilingual film for Vijaya Productions. The script by Chakrapani was based on the Bengali play Manmoyee Girls School by Rabindranath Maitra. Prasad's relationship with Khan, a Muslim tailor near Kohinoor Studios in Bombay, was the basis of the film's friendship between two men of different religions. The film was titled Missamma in Telugu and Missiamma in Tamil.Pingali and Thanjai N. Ramaiah Dass wrote the dialogue for the Telugu and Tamil versions, respectively. Marcus Bartley was signed as director of photography, and C. P. Jambulingam and Kalyanam edited the film. Madhavapeddi Gokhale and Kaladhar were its art directors. The film was processed at Vijaya Laboratory and recorded by Western Electric. M. S. Chalapathi Rao and Jagannadham were its executive producers.
Casting
Missamma/''Missiamma was the first bilingual film from Vijaya Productions with different male actors in different versions, in contrast to Pathala Bhairavi and Pelli Chesi Choodu where the same actors were used in both versions. The producers cast N. T. Rama Rao as the male lead in the Telugu version and Gemini Ganesan replaced him in Tamil, while P. Bhanumathi was initially cast as the female lead in both versions. S. V. Ranga Rao and Rushyendramani were cast as the female lead's biological parents, and Meenakshi and Doraswamy as her foster parents, in both versions.Prasad had completed four reels of film with Bhanumathi. She wrote to the producers, informing them that she would shoot only in the afternoon because Varalakshmi Vratam was being held at her home. The letter went astray and Chakrapani, a strict disciplinarian, chastised her for arriving late on set. When Bhanumathi refused to apologise, Chakrapani burnt the four reels in front of her and she quit the film. Although Nagi Reddi learned about the letter and tried to mediate, Chakrapani and Bhanumathi refused to reconcile. Chakrapani ordered Prasad to replace Bhanumathi with Savitri, who was initially cast as Sita. Jamuna was signed later for Sita's role, upon Savitri's recommendation.
After the release of Devadasu, Akkineni Nageswara Rao wanted to trade his tragic-romantic-hero image for a comic role in Missamma, and was cast as the detective A. K. Raju. Nageswara Rao reportedly accepted the role for financial reasons, until he said that Missamma'' was the only film of his career that he lobbied to participate in. Gummadi was recommended to Chakrapani by Madhavapeddi Venkatramaiah. After auditioning other actors, Chakrapani asked Gummadi to make a cameo appearance as an interviewer. He received 5001,000 for a day's work, a generous salary for the time; actors in major film roles received 2,000 for 20 days of work. Chakrapani justified Gummadi's salary by saying that the actor's family included three children who had moved to Madras. For a photoshoot, Rama Rao lent Gummadi his coat and placed a tilaka on his forehead.
Filming
began in early 1954, with both versions filmed simultaneously. The scene in which M. T. Rao and Mary lie to each other before boarding a bus to attend an interview after they were fired from their previous jobs was shot at the Chandamama office building, and the high-school set was built nearby. Photographs of Nagi Reddi's younger brother and cinematographer B. N. Konda Reddi's daughter were used in the film. For the scene in which M. T. Rao jumps from a balcony, Gemini Ganesan doubled for Rama Rao.Pasumarthi Krishnamurthy choreographed the film's songs. For "Balanura Madana" and "Brundavanamadi Andaridi Govindudu Andarivadele", Sita performed a Kuchipudi dance. "Balanura Madana" was a javali dance; Jamuna rehearsed both songs for about a month, focusing on details during rehearsals. Filming was delayed because of Bhanumathi's exit and the difficulty of managing two casts simultaneously. Lasting for a year, it was wrapped up by the end of December 1954. The final length of the film was about. After they saw the final edited version, Nagi Reddi and Chakrapani gave Dodge automobiles to the film's principal cast.