Dagudu Moothalu

Dagudu Moothalu (transl. Hide and seek) is a 1964 Indian Telugu-language comedy film produced by D. B. Narayana and directed by Adurthi Subba Rao, who also wrote the screenplay. Based on a story by Mullapudi Venkata Ramana, it stars N. T. Rama Rao and B. Saroja Devi. In Dagudu Moothalu, the distant relatives of an ailing man attempt to usurp his wealth, while making sure that his grandson, the rightful heir, does not inherit the said wealth.

Ramana took plot details of the 1936 American film Mr. Deeds Goes to Town – the title character inheriting a huge property and subsequently being branding a lunatic by miscreants who are after his wealth – but then wrote a story creating new characters and situations, Dagudu Moothalu. The film was released on 21 August 1964, and became a commercial success. It was later remade in Tamil as Avan Pithana? (1966) and in Hindi as Jwaar Bhata (1973).