Missamma (1955)

Original title

మిస్సమ్మ

Directed by

L. V. Prasad

Genre

romantic comedy

Country

India

Runtime

3h 01m

Rated

U

Rating

7.5 of 10 from 6 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

Two unemployed people pretend to be a married couple so they can get jobs at a school. They start to fall in love, but one of them is actually the missing daughter of the school's founder and does not know it.

whimsicallightheartedplayfulromanticcharmingbrightwarmclever

What happens

Missamma (transl. Miss madam) 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. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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