'''Suvarna Sundari/Manalane Mangayin Bhagyam'''


1957 209’[Te]/211’[Ta] b&w Telugu/Hindi/Tamil d/sc Vedantam Raghavaiah pc Anjali Pictures p Adi Narayana Rao st/dial/co-lyr[Te] Samudrala Raghavacharya co-lyr[Te] Samudrala Jr., Kosaraju lyr[H] Bharat Vyas c M.A. Rehman m Adi Narayana Rao lp A. Nageshwara Rao, Anjali Devi, Relangi Venkatramaiah[Te], Mahankali Venkayya[Te], Rajasulochana[Te], C.S.R. Anjaneyulu[Te], Gummadi Venkateshwara Rao[Te], Ramana Reddy[Te], Balakrishna[Te], Peketi[Te], Shyama[H], Kumkum[H], Daisy Irani[H], Mohana[H], Suryakala[H], Agha[H], Mukri[H], Dhumal[H], Randhir[H], Bipin Gupta[H], Niranjan Sharma[H], Gemini Ganesh[Ta], M.V. Rajamma[Ta], B. Saroja Devi[Ta]


Anjali Devi repeated her role from Balaramaiah’s Swapna Sundari (1950) in this megabudget trilingual fantasy produced by her studio. A celestial fairy descends to earth and is captivated by the charms of a young man. The god Indra puts a curse on the fairy and converts her earthling lover into a stone statue. This is one of the major 50s productions in the uniquely Telugu fantasy-legend genre (cf. K.V. Reddy’s work or Bhanumathi’s hit Raksharekha, 1949). However, when Anjali Pic repeated the formula again with Raghavaiah’s Swarnamanjari/Mangayir Ullam Mangada Selvam (1962), starring NTR, it flopped.

[[Film]]