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 (1957), 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 in memory of his elder daughter Mahalakshmi, who went missing as a child during a trip to Kakinada. The school suffers from mismanagement under Gopalam's detective nephew, A. K. Raju, and Panthulu, an ayurvedic doctor and teacher who uses students for labour. To reform the institution, Gopalam decides to hire a qualified, married couple to serve as teachers and instruct his younger daughter, Sita, in music and dance.
Meanwhile, Mahalakshmi, who was raised as a Christian named Mary by a Madras-based couple, seeks employment to clear a heavy educational loan taken from a loan shark, I. P. David. To secure the jobs at Gopalam's school, Mary agrees to pose as the wife of M. T. Rao, an unemployed graduate she met at a job interview. Accompanied by Devayya, a clever beggar acting as their cook, Rao and Mary move to Appapuram and take up residence behind Gopalam's bungalow. Gopalam and his wife treat the pair as their own children, making Mary uncomfortable as she struggles with unfamiliar Hindu customs while hiding her identity to earn her salary. Sita develops a crush on Rao during her music lessons, sparking jealousy in Mary, who has begun developing feelings for Rao.
When Mary considers confessing the deception, Rao fabricates a story that she is possessed by a spirit to protect their jobs. Raju, suspicious of the couple and eager to keep Rao away from Sita, begins investigating Mary's background and learns from Gopalam's wife that Mahalakshmi has a mole on her right foot. Gopalam and his wife mistake Mary to be pregnant and organise a Seemantham ceremony, further confusing Mary. David subsequently arrives in Appapuram to expose Mary's Christian identity after she rejects his marriage proposal in favor of Rao. However, Raju retrieves a stolen necklace that Mahalakshmi wore when she disappeared, proving that Mary is indeed Gopalam's missing daughter.
David is arrested, and Mary happily acknowledges both her biological and foster families. Discovering that Rao and Mary are not actually wed, Gopalam arranges their marriage alongside that of Sita and Raju.
Cast
Production
Development Nagi Reddi 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 (now Mumbai), 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 (1951) and Pelli Chesi Choodu (1952) 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 (then known as R. Ganesh) 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 (1953), 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 (now Chennai). For a photoshoot, Rama Rao lent Gummadi his coat and placed a tilaka on his forehead.
Filming Principal photography began in early 1954, with both versions (with different casts) 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 (the latter as Gopalam's missing 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 (since the actress was untrained in traditional dance), 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.
Themes Chakrapani described Missamma as a "film for kids which should also be watched by adults". In his 2015 book Madras Studios: Narrative, Genre, and Ideology in Tamil Cinema, Swarnavel Eswaran Pillai wrote that the film interweaves romantic comedy and melodrama to tell Mary's love story, while Aditya Parankusam of The Hans India described it as a screwball comedy. Andhra Patrika noted in its review that the character of Raju had the shades of Sherlock Holmes, but was portrayed as an amateur detective until the end keeping in view the film's comic tone.
In addition to the protagonists, Missamma focuses on Mary's biological and foster parents. Four other charactersMary's creditor I. P. David, Rao's friend Devayya, the schoolteacher-cum-doctor Panthulu and Raju's stoic assistant Govindainfluence the plot. Believing that comedy and suspense cannot be effectively sustained together, Chakrapani reveals Mary's true identity to the audience early in the film but the characters (including Mary) are unaware of her identity until the climax. Pa Dheenadhayalan of Dinamani described Mary as the antithesis of Savitri's role in Devadasu. Chakrapani used the reception of Mary's modern dress and behaviour to depict the limitations of orthodox South Indian families. The lyrics of "Adavari Matalaku Ardhale Verule", as lip-synched by Rao's character, describe the complex behaviour of women with men.
According to Pillai, Missamma shed light on the subtle, indirect way Telugu filmmakers dealt with the troublesome environment in Madras surrounding Tamil language and culture during the Visalandhra movement. Pillai wrote that the Krishna-Godavari River dispute between Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh enabled viewers to grasp the metaphor of Pushkaram as signifying loss. The lyrics of "Dharmam Chey" addressed the plight of beggars, and "Kavalante Isthale" addressed society's changing views. "Sitaram Sitaram" was considered a satire of corrupt politicians, particularly the line "Chandalantu Bhale Pracharam, Vandalu Velu tama palaharam" ("Fundraising becomes self-promotion, as hundreds and thousands are used for self-consumption").
Missamma also dealt with unemployment and freedom of religion. Gautaman Bhaskaran of Hindustan Times called it a "powerful social document" that spoke about the importance of religious tolerance with the help of its lead actors. Rama Rao's character, M. T. Rao, is pronounced "Empty" Rao (reflecting, according to Santhisri of Prajasakti, the humiliation of the educated unemployed). Prasad's struggles during his early career influenced the examination of unemployment and being an educated "misfit". Pillai wrote that Chakrapani's "poignant dialogues" about the unemployment of the educated young people belied his image as a mainstream writer; in the scenes where Mary's Catholic faith is challenged, Chakrapani and Prasad "underscore their imperative to highlight the differences" and "make a plea for peaceful co-existence".
Music
The soundtrack of Missamma was composed by S. Rajeswara Rao with lyrics by Pingali. Audio mixing was supervised by A. Krishnan and Siva Ram. They were engineered by N. C. Sen Gupta and orchestrated by A. Krishnamurthy.