Kasturi Siva Rao was an Indian film actor, comedian, playback singer, producer and director known for his works in Telugu cinema. He was one of the first star comedians of Telugu cinema.Kasturi Siva Rao started his career in the film industry as a movie narrator for the silent films produced at that time. Besides providing commentary, he was also a projector operator and had a unique humor to his fame. Theaters would advertise films as having "commentary by Siva Rao". He became an actor with the film Vara Vikrayam in 1939 and shot into the limelight with Chudamani in 1941. B N Reddy’s Swarga Seema in 1945 and Bala Raju in 1948 catapulted him to stardom.