MISSAMMA -GOLDEN JUBILEE

[Yuvarathna]

Vijaya Productions (P) Ltd.

Missamma

Technical Crew:

Direction: L.V. Prasad

Producers: Nagireddy & Chakrapani

Script: Chakrapani

Lyrics: Pingali Nagendra Rao

Music: S. Rajeswara Rao

Playback singers: A.M. Raja, P. Leela, P. Susheela, Relangi

 

Cast:

M.T. Rao ... N.T. Rama Rao

Mary/Mahalakshmi ... Savithri

A.K. Raju ... Akkineni Nageswara Rao

Seetha ... Jamuna

Gopalam ... S.V. Ranga Rao

Gopalam's wife ... Rishyendramani

Devayya ... Relangi Venkatramayya

I.P. David ... Ramana Reddy

Govind ... Balakrishna (a.k.a Anji)

Allu Ramalingayya ... Teacher and Ayurvedic Practitioner

Paul ... Swaminathan (Savithri's father)

Gummadi Venkateswara Rao ... Employer (guest)

 

Story Line

The story is about a man and a woman (title role) who act as husband and wife in order to get jobs for both. The woman, who is actually the missing elder daughter of their employers' family, is brought up by a Christian couple. This is found at the end of the movie and the treatment overall is quite comic.

 

Story Detail

The story begins with a scene depicting the missing of the elder daughter of a Gopalam and family in her childhood (16 years ago, on mahaalaya amaavaasya, when the family goes to the sea shore at Kakinada) and the family still wants to find her. The audience will know that this person is Mary, a music teacher, from her identification mark (a mole on the right foot). This music teacher Mary, and an English master M.T. Rao, go jobless when their employer leaves the place. They find an advertisement in the newspaper that Gopalam and family in Appapuram village needs a female music teacher and a male teacher to look after their Mahalakshmi High School. The ad also mentions that these two must be a couple. Rao and Mary are however married. Rao proposes to Mary that they should go to the place posing as a couple, so that both of them can get jobs and that they can stay there till they can solve their individual domestic problems. Mary agrees to this after giving it a thorough thought. A friend of Rao, Devayya, also a 'care of platform' fellow, accompanies them. The employer Gopalam is a jovial man, and his family treats them like their daughter and son-in-law. Mary being a Christian, doesn't however like all the customs she has to follow, and thus can't digest the affection showered by the old couple. The adamant younger daughter of Gopalam, Seetha, is the student of the music teacher. There is also an uncle Raju (and would-be husband) of this girl in the same house, who is a pet-detective. Raju earlier promises to his sister (Gopalam's wife) that he'd find her missing elder daughter. He now somehow (rightly) feels that this Mary is the missing girl Mahalakshmi.

 

Mary feels like she wants to leave the place at times as she finds all that unbearable. Once she even declares to the Gopalam couple that she hails from a Christian family, and has come there as a Missamma (teacher, or more specifically, a Christian teacher). Rao, from the very beginning, tactfully corrects many such hasty acts of Mary, in order to save their jobs. The elderly couple however show the same affection towards Rao and Mary. Mary starts liking Rao at times but feels irritated when he behaves playfully with Seetha. Even Raju, the would-be husband of Seetha, doesn't like this. When Seetha learns that Rao is also well-versed in music, she demands that Rao should teach her music instead of Mary. Mary, irritated by all this, even tries to teach music to Raju, in order to avoid Rao meeting Seetha frequently. Raju meanwhile futilely tries to know more about Rao and Mary through Devayya, as a part of his investigation to find the missing Mahalakshmi. David, who has earlier proposed to marry Mary, comes into picture again, as he wants to know where she is, from her Christian parents. He finally gets to know that playing a mean trick.

 

The movie enters the climax scenes, as the Christian couple start to Appapuram, and David too follows them without their knowledge. Meanwhile, here in Appapuram, the elderly couple (Gopalam and his wife) plan to arrange seemantam function for Mary. She too consents to that on Rao's advice, as they'd soon leave the place, without actually knowing what the function is about. David tactfully gets to Appapuram than the Christian couple. He charges in rage that Mary & Rao have deceived everyone there, and that Mary has actually consented to marry him. Raju, who was all the while desperately trying to check Mary's right foot for the mole, finally finds it. The Christian couple who have brought up Mary, arrived on the scene by then, admit that they found the girl, at the same place as the Gopalam couple have lost the girl, and they show the gown that the girl wore then, as an evidence. Amidst the rejoicing of Gopalam and family, the movie ends in an all-happy mood, as Seetha & Mary (Mahalakshmi) too share the happiness of the reunion. The fact that Rao and Mahalakshmi were not actually married, is then noticed but is not seriously considered. The movie ends as Gopalam announces the weddings of Seetha with Raju and Mahalakshmi with Rao.

 

Highlights

The comedy in the movie is an obvious highlight in the movie. The all-comic script makes the movie quite a memorable one. (In fact, the best social movie of the millennium, according to a poll conducted by TeluguCinema.Com in the wake of year 2000!) The movie is a musical hit, and achieving this feat without Ghantasala's voice is a rarity at that time. Relangi (two songs) and Savithri (meeku meerE...) sing in their own voices. Nageswara Rao too repeats in his own voice as Savithri sings, but that is marked by comedy. Nageswara Rao not having any other songs for his character is notable too. The movie has very few actors and characters but is treated excellently by the director. The movie also has many 'silent conversations', in addition to the comic dialogues. All the actors excel in their roles, and this small a cast with just these particular actors is bound to be excellent. Savithri actually replaced Bhanumathi who first signed in for the role, and that could have also added to the film's great show, critics and audience feel.

 

Other Technical Aspects

Music: Music by S. Rajeswara Rao makes the movie still more memorable, with all-time hit songs like raavOyi chandamaamaa..., bRndaavanamadi andaridi..., aaDuvaari maaTalaku..., telusukonave chelli (continued by telusukonave yuvati...) and baalanuraa madanaa.... Other melodies, also popular, in this movie are Ee navanavaabhyudaya... (kaavaalanTE istaalE...), EmiTO ee maaya..., SreejaanakIdEvi seemantamalare..., baabU dharmam cheyi babu... and seetaaraam seetaaraam....(The last two songs were rendered by Relangi himself.) There's also a dream sequence completely treated with western style music.

 

Lyrics: Lyrics by Pingali add to the beauty of the music, as in all other movies by Vijaya Productions. Especially the song raavOyi chandamaamaa... shows the talent of Pingali, appearing to have different meanings in the hero-heroine point of view and the view of Gopalam and his wife. A song not as popular as the others – seetaaraam seetaaraam... sung by Devayya (Relangi), criticizing pseudo-saints (donga sanyaasulu) and other societal disguises, also reflects the talent of the lyricist. telusukonave chelli... and telusukonave yuvati... have thought-provoking lyrics from a female and male perspective respectively, with comedic expressions that are well-captured by the director. The song aaDuvaari maaTalaku... is reused in the recent Kushi as is. All songs are equally famous for their meaning as much as for their tunes.

 

Dialogues: Dialogues by Chakrapani make the movie one of the best comedies of the millennium, and quite memorable one too. The tailam (indirectly meaning bribe, or bakshis) dialogue by Devayya, hasty acts and dialogues by Gopalam, the dialogues for the pet-detective Raju, the childish dialogues of Seetha... literally every character, including the guest artiste Gummadi, has its share of memorable dialogue bits. The catch-word adE! for SVR is a much-celebrated one.

 

Direction: This movie was made by L.V. Prasad for Vijaya Pictures after their previous combinations Shavukaru and Pelli Chesi Choodu. A director of distinct, L.V. Prasad is probably not too popular among the present generation, but fans of the Old Gold of Telugu Cinema know his talent very well, from the times of his Drohi movie. This director-actor knows how well a scene can be enacted and how good a presentation makes the shot unforgettable. His contribution to the movie has no doubt made it a hit.

[Yuvarathna]

Trivia:

 

    

 

      The movie was simultaneously made in Tamil as Missixxxxx (1955) and in Hindi as Miss Mary (1957), both with Gemini Ganeshan in the lead. While Savithri appeared in the same role in the Tamil version, Meenakumari played the role in Hindi, and Kishore Kumar appeared in ANR's role in Hindi.

 

    

 

      NTR's role has the name M.T. Rao. However, his dad's name is referred as Koka Rajaram Naidu, making some wonder why then his name doesn't have the same initial or surname. Of course, in fact, the movie is too beautiful to consider this as a flaw.

    

 

      NTR is just about to croon in the song raavOyi chandamaamaa... and the audience suddenly hear Leela's voice. The surprise expression on NTR's face evokes laughter immediately among the viewers.

 

    

 

      NTR acted in L.V. Prasad's direction earlier in both the Vijaya ventures he directed, and Savithri acted as a second heroine opposite Joga Rao in Pelli Chesi Choodu.

    

 

      Though NTR and ANR are nearly the same age, and same is the case with Savithri and Jamuna, the audience see an elderly air to NTR and Savithri's characters all through the movie.