S V Ranga Rao

S.V. Ranga Rao with full name Samarla Venkata Ranga Rao was a famous actor, producer, director in Telugu and Tamil Cinema. He was famous as S.V.R. by the entire Cine industry. He got the reputation from his beloved fans as Viswa Nata Chakravarti, Nata Sekhara, Nata Simha and Nata Sarvabhouma. His core competency was doing acting naturally and had a huge fan base for his Hindu mythological roles as Dhuryodhana, Ravana, Ghatohkacha, Keechaka and Kamsa from the mythology of India.

He received the Best Actor Award at the Afro-Asian Film Festival held in Jakarta. This award was for his role as Keechaka in ‘Nartanasala’ a famous mythological film in Telugu. He also got the Rashtrapati Awards for ‘Annai’ (1962), ‘Sarada’ (1962), ‘ Naanum Oru Penn Naanum Oru Penn is a drama series which airs on th >> Read More... ’ (1963), ‘Karpagam’ (1963) and ‘Nartanasala’ (1963). He also felicitated with Nandi award as Best feature film under direction department due to his outstanding movies ‘ Chadarangam Chadarangam is a Telegu action-thriller web series >> Read More... ’ (1967), ‘Bandhavyalu’ (1968) directed and produced by himself. He also received Filmfare Special Award – South for his super hit movie Naanum Oru Penn (1963), a Tamil drama film under the direction of A. C. Tirulokchandar. S.V.R. was born to Samarla Koteswara Rao and Samarla Lakshmi, a Telugu family.

From the age of 12, he was very enthusiastic in stage performance and entered into acting domain after completing his B.Sc education. S.V.R. got the first opportunity from one of his close relatives B.V. Ramanandam for a leading role in a movie called ‘Varoodhini’. After this, he took a break where he went to work as a budget assistant in Tata Company. However, his zeal in acting again brought him back to Madras.

In 1947, he got married with Leelavathi Badeti and later he got another opportunity to act like a villain in ‘Palletoori Pilla’ directed and produced by B. A. Subba Rao Subba Rao, also known as Vepada Subba Rao, is an I >> Read More... . Later he got a call from Vijaya Pictures to work as Nepala Mantrikudu in ‘Pathala Bhairavi’, a famous fantasy film in Telugu Cinema written by Pingali Nagendrarao Pingali Nagendrarao was a lyricist, story writer, >> Read More... under the direction of Kadiri Venkata Reddy Kadiri Venkata Reddy (1 July 1912 – 15 September 1 >> Read More... . By gaining the reputation through this role, he got another film ‘Pelli Chesi Choodu’ (1952) a comedy film under the direction of L. V. Prasad. He also played the Tamil version of it. Some of his famous mythological films include ‘Maya Bazaar’ where he played the role of Ghatohkacha, ‘Bhakta Prahlada’ as Hiranyakashapaya character, ‘Bala Bharatham’ in Bheeshma character, ‘Yashoda Krishna’ as Kamsa character and ‘Pandava Vanavasam’ as Dhuryodhana character. He died on February 1974 due to coronary failure.

Another Version of this Bio...

Samarla Venkata Ranga Rao a renowned actor in the Tamil and Telugu industry. He is fondly recalled to be "Nata Sarvabhouma/ Nata Sekhara/ Nata Simha/ Viswa Nata Chakravarti.” Every time he performs a role, one wouldn't be able to claim that he is merely acting, since his way of performing is so genuine and realistic. He has played the reel roles such as; Ghatohkacha, Kamsa, Dhuryodhana, Keechaka and Ravana. He bagged the award for best Actor for his portrayal of Keechaka at the Afro-Asian Film Festival in Jakarta. He also won the Rashtrapati Award five times for his performance in films; Annai, Naanum Oru Penn, Karpagam, Sarada, and Nartanasala. His performance in Naanum Oru Penn helped him bag a special award from Filmfare Awards South.

About his personal life, he married Leelavathi, with whom he had three children. Later in 1974, he suffered from a coronary failure at Hyderabad in February, which later bounced back in the month of July while he was in Chennai and this time, it was fatal. He passed away before he could undergo any immediate medical treatment. May his soul rest in peace!