Vijayalakshmi Vadlapati, better known by her stage name Silk Smitha, was an Indian actress and dancer who worked mainly in Tamil and Telugu cinema, in addition to some Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi films. She became one of India's most popular sex symbols of the 1980s and early 1990s, as well as one of the most sought-after erotic actresses in South Indian cinema in the 1980s. Smitha was a key figure in the Malayalam softcore film genre in the late 1980s.

In Indian cinema, an item number or special song is a musical number inserted into a film that may or may not have any relevance to the plot. The term is commonly used within Indian films and to a lesser extent within Pakistani films to describe a catchy, upbeat, often provocative dance sequence for a song performed in a movie. The main aim of an item number is to entertain movie-goers and to lend support to the marketability of the film by being featured in trailers. They are favoured by filmmakers as they afford the opportunity to pick potential hit songs from the stocks, since they do not add to the continuity of the plot. It is thus a vehicle for commercial success that ensures repeat viewing.