Sahasa Veerudu Sagara Kanya (1996)

In 1947 when the British finally left India, they stole a shipload of gold, diamonds, jewelry, and artifacts. Unfortunately, the ship sank, and attempts to recover the wealth has been in vain so far. Wealthy Motichand decides to consult a woman named Bhairavi with occult powers, and she informs him that the treasure can only be recovered with the help of a mermaid. Using her powers she locates the mermaid (Shilpa Shetty) and forces her to come ashore. The mermaid is rescued by local fisherman Raviraj (Venkatesh) and his crew, and he lets her stay until she recovers. She is incapable of human speech, and mimics everyone around her, so therefore everyone thinks she is insane. Raviraj decides to call her Sona. Bhairavi locates Sona, but must first overcome Raviraj and his crew. She schemes with Ganga (Malashri), who is in love with Raviraj and feels threatened by Raviraj's attentions to Sona, and will do anything, including kill, to have Raviraj for herself. Raviraj is unaware of Sona's true identity or her tendency to develop scaled fins when she's wet. Will Raviraj accept Sona as she is?