Samarla Venkata Ranga Rao, popularly known as SVR, was an Indian actor and filmmaker known for his works majorly in Telugu and Tamil films. He is regarded as one of the finest actors in the history of Indian cinema. He is known by the epithet "Viswa Nata Chakravarthi". He was the earliest known character actor to have enjoyed a star status in South Indian cinema. In a career spanning nearly three decades, Ranga Rao garnered various national and international honours.

Devadasu is a 1953 Indian romance film directed by Vedantam Raghavayya and produced by D. L. Narayana for Vinodha Pictures. Chakrapani wrote the script based on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel, Devdas. C. R. Subbaraman composed the film's music. The film was edited by P. V. Narayanan, while B. S. Ranga provided the cinematography.