Hirakud, a notified area, a small township, is located in Sambalpur District in Orissa, situated just 15 km from Sambalpur. This village came to the industrial limelight in 1956 when Hirakud dam was built and thereby clearing the path for industrial growth in this earlier known rustic small township. Presently, this town is known for being industrialized with a few of the largest companies, to cite as example is the HINDALCO. Hirakud Dam, with its potential for irrigation and production of hydroelectric power, has also been able to attract tourists for it being the largest manmade artificial lake in Asia and one of the longest and largest dams in the world. It has been constructed on the Mahanadi river between the North Gandhi Minar and the Nehru Minar which connects these two wellknown hills. The shoreline spans around 640 km.At the base of Hirakud Dam Burla power house present with generating capacity 290MW.

As of 2001^[update] India census, Hirakud had a population of 26,397. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Hirakud has an average literacy rate of 70%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 78%, and female literacy is 60%. In Hirakud, 12% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Roberto Gastone Zeffiro Rossellini (8 May 1906 – 3 June 1977) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Rossellini was one of the directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing films such as Roma città aperta (Rome, Open City 1945) to the movement.

Rossellini was born in Rome. His mother, Elettra (née Bellan), was a housewife, and his father, Angiolo Giuseppe "Beppino" Rossellini, owned a construction firm. His mother was of part French descent, from immigrants who had arrived in Italy during the Napoleonic Wars. He lived on the Via Ludovisi, where Benito Mussolini had his first Roman hotel in 1922 when Fascism obtained power in Italy.

Rossellini's father built the first cinema in Rome, granting his son an unlimited free pass; the young Rossellini started frequenting the cinema at an early age. When his father died, he worked as a soundmaker for films and for a certain time he experienced all the accessory jobs related to the creation of a film, gaining competence in each field. Rossellini had a brother, Renzo, who later scored many of his films.