Missamma (1955)

Hit comedy about a village zamindar (Ranga Rao) who advertises for a married couple to run a school set up in memory of his long-lost daughter. The unemployed Rao (NTR/Ganesh) and Mary (Savitri) pretend to be married to get the job. Annoyed by Rao’s interest in the zamindar’s other daughter (Jamuna in her debut), Mary starts teaching music to an amateur detective and the zamindar’s future son-in-law (Nageshwara Rao/Thangavelu). Mary feigns pregnancy while the zamindar tries to convert her to Hinduism. Eventually Mary turns out to be the zamindar’s lost daughter and she marries Rao. The Ghantasala/P. Susheela duet Varaya vennilave was especially popular. The film, which established Gemini Ganesh and Savitri as a lead pair, adapts Jyotish Bannerjee’s classic Bengali comedy Manmoyee Girls’ School (1935). Prasad remade his own version at the AVM Studio in Hindi as Miss Mary (1957) starring Meena Kumari. Anant Mane also did a Marathi version of the story, Jhakli Mooth (1957).