 Indo-Asian News Service described "Devadasu" as one of Nageswara Rao's "best films".Dilip Kumar, who portrayed Devadas in the 1955 film directed by Bimal Roy, admitted that Nageswara Rao's performance as the character was better than his own, remarking, "There is only one Devadas (1953), and that is Akkineni Nageswara Rao.