మిస్సమ్మ (1955)

Curiosità

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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