Swapna Sundari (1950)

‘Folklore’ fantasy in which a heavenly damsel (Anjali Devi) falls in love with an earthly prince (Nageshwara Rao) and keeps entering his dreams. He stays awake one night in order to capture her, but she is entrapped by a magician (Mukkamala). The hero goes in search of her and rescues her after another woman (from earth, Varalakshmi) sacrifices her life. Both Anjali Devi and Varalakshmi, in the prime of their careers, give highly entertaining performances, which, with the dance compositions of Vedantam Raghavaiah and R. Balasaraswathi’s songs (as playback for Anjali Devi), comprise this hit’s major attractions. Varalakshmi’s Nee sani neevene number was, in the words of V.A.K. Ranga Rao, a ‘sexy delight’.