Murali Krishna

1964 169’ b&w Telugu d P. Pullaiah pc Padmasri Pics p V. Venkateshwarulu st P. Radha s/co-lyr Acharya Athreya co-lyr Dasarathi, C. Narayana Reddy c Madhav Bulbule m Master Venu lp A. Nageshwara Rao, Jamuna, S.V. Ranga Rao, Gummadi Venkateshwara Rao, Haranath, Geetanjali, Sharada, Suryakantam, L. Vijayalakshmi, Ramana Reddy

A comedy of mistaken (gender) identity in which the bluff, retired military man (Ranga Rao) raises his daughter Murali (Jamuna) as though she were a son. She loves and is to marry Krishna (Nageshwara Rao) when a painter, Lakshmikantam (Haranath), appears. Murali had written letters of appreciation believing him to be a woman. When Lakshmikantam wants to marry Murali, she persuades her friend Srilatha (Sharada) to pretend to be Murali, a subterfuge that works until the painter turns out to be a friend of Murali’s fiance.

Film