Puri  pronunciation (help·info) (Oriya: ପୁରୀ ) is a city and the district headquarters of puri district, situated on the Bay of Bengal 60 kilometres (37 mi) south of the state capital Bhubaneswar in the Indian state of Orissa. It is also known as Jagannath Puri after the 11th century Jagannath Temple located in the city. Puri is a holy city of the Hindus as a part of the Char Dham pilgrimages. According to Hindu teachings, a pilgrimage of the temples of India is not considered complete without a journey to Puri.

Puri is endowed with one of the best beaches for swimming in India and is therefore also a popular beach resort, especially as it is positioned geographically so that both sunset and sunrise can be viewed from the beach.

Puri, the holy land of Lord Jagannath, has many names. It is mentioned in Puranas as Srikshetra, Shankhakshetra, Neelāchala, Neelādri, Purusottama Dhāma, Purusottama Kshetra, Purusottama Puri and Jagannath Puri. The word "Puri" in Sanskrit means 'town', or 'city' and is cognate with polis in Greek. It is possible that Puri is a shortened name for Jagannath Puri or Purusottama Puri. In some records pertaining to the British rule, the word 'Jagannath' was used for Puri. It is the only shrine in India, where Radha, along with Lakshmi, Durga, Sati, Parvati, and Shakti abodes with Krishna, also known as Jagannath.^{[citation needed]}

Om Puri (Hindi: ओम पुरी born 18 October 1950) is an Indian actor who has appeared in both mainstream Indian films and art films. His credits also include appearances in British and American films. He has received an honorary OBE.

Puri was born in Ambala, Haryana. He graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India. He is also an alumnus of the 1973 class of National School of Drama where Naseeruddin Shah was a co-student.

Puri has worked in numerous Indian films and in many films produced in the United Kingdom and the United States. He made his film debut in the 1976 film Ghashiram Kotwal, based on a Marathi play of the same name. He has claimed that he was paid "peanuts" for his best work. He has collaborated with Amrish Puri as well as Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil in art films such as Bhavni Bhavai (1980), Sadgati (1981), Ardh Satya (1982), Mirch Masala (1986) and Dharavi (1992).

He has been active in cinema. He was critically acclaimed for his performances in many unconventional roles such as a victimized tribal in Aakrosh (1980) (a film in which he spoke only during flash-back sequences); Jimmy's manager in Disco Dancer (1982); a police inspector in Ardh Satya (1982), where he revolts against life-long social, cultural and political persecution and for which he got the National Film Award for Best Actor; the leader of a cell of Sikh militants in Maachis (1996); as a tough cop again in the commercial film Gupt in 1997; and as the courageous father of a martyred soldier in Dhoop (2003).

Girish Raghunath Karnad (born 19 May 1938) is a contemporary writer, playwright, screenwriter, actor and movie director in Kannada language. His rise as a prominent playwright in 1960s, marked the coming of age of Modern Indian playwriting in Kannada, just as Badal Sarkar did it in Bengali, Vijay Tendulkar in Marathi, and Mohan Rakesh in Hindi. He is a recipient of the 1998 Jnanpith Award for Kannada, the highest literary honour conferred in India.

For four decades Karnad has been composing plays, often using history and mythology to tackle contemporary issues. He has translated his major plays into English, and has received critical acclaim across India. His plays have been translated into several Indian languages and directed by eminent directors like Ebrahim Alkazi, B. V. Karanth, Alyque Padamsee, Prasanna, Arvind Gaur, Satyadev Dubey, Vijaya Mehta, Shyamanand Jalan and Amal Allana. He is also active in the world of Indian cinema working as an actor, director, and screenwriter, both in Hindi and Kannada cinema, earning numerous awards along the way. He was conferred Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan by the Government of India.

Navin Nischol (18 March 1946 – 19 March 2011) was an Indian actor. He made his debut with the Hindi film Sawan Bhadon in 1970.

Navin Nischol studied in Rashtriya Military School Bangalore erstwhile King George Royal India Military College, Bangalore. His roll number was 606. He was the first gold medalist from the Film and Television Institute of India to make it big. He starred in several superhits, such as Victoria No. 203 (1972) and Dhund (1973).

At one time, he was popularly known as the "poor man's Rajesh Khanna" — an allusion to his being an inferior copy of the much-more-in-demand Rajesh Khanna. Later on, Nischol switched to character roles and carved out a successful career for himself in television. One of his most successful serials on television was Dekh Bhai Dekh, co-starring Sushma Seth, Shekhar Suman and Farida Jalal. He also starred in the Punjabi films Aasra Pyar Da (1983) and Mahaul Theek Hai (1999).

Navin was first married to Dev Anand's niece, Neelu Kapur, sister of Shekhar Kapur. After Neelu found out that Navin was having an affair with starlet Padmini Kapila, she divorced him and turned to Christianity. Shortly after that Padmini started having an affair with director Prakash Mehra and broke up with Navin. Navin then had an affair with Pimma, a Delhi-based married woman with two children.

Puri Jagannadh (Telugu: పూరి జగన్నాథ్) (born 28 September 1966) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer, prominent in Telugu cinema. He is also a three-time Nandi Award recipient.

He made his Bollywood debut, with the film Bbuddah... Hoga Terra Baap, which was invited to be archived in the Oscar library. Jagannadh is associated with Vaishno Academy, a film production house in South.

Jagannadh was born in a middle class Telugu family. He started his career as an assistant director to Ram Gopal Varma for several Telugu films. His Telugu directorial debut Badri was a blockbuster, starring Pawan Kalyan in the lead role, along with Renu Desai, Prakash Raj, Amisha Patel in supporting roles. He is touted as a god father to Telugu actor Ravi Teja, by starring him in hits like Itlu Sravani Subramanyam and Idiot.

Puri Jagannadh's most of the films like Itlu Sravani Subramanyam,Idiot,Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi,Pokiri,Neninthe and Golimar were planned with Pawan Kalyan but were couldn't get started due to some unknown reasons.He revealed this in an interview.At last he is doing a film called Cameraman Ganga Tho Rambabu with Pawan Kalyan after 12 years of long gap.