Cuttack, is the former capital and the second largest city in the Indian state of Odisha. It is the headquarters of the Cuttack district. The name of the city is an anglicised form of the Odia and Sanskrit name Kataka which literally means The Fort, a reference to the ancient Barabati Fort around which the city initially developed. Cuttack is known as the Millennium City as well as the Silver City due to its history of 1000 years and famous silver filigree works. The Orissa High Court is located there. It is the commercial capital of Odisha which hosts many trading and business houses in and around the city. Cuttack is famous for its Durga Puja which is one of the most important festivals of Odisha. The city is categorised as a Tier-II city as per the ranking system used by Government of India.
Uttam Mohanty is an Indian film and television actor who has to his credit more than 135 Odia films to date and has acted in 30 Bengali films and in a Hindi film Naya Zaher.
Akshaya Mohanty, also known as Khoka Bhai, was an Indian singer, lyricist, composer, musician and writer in Odia. He has contributed Odia bhajans, Odissi songs, folk songs, film and non-film modern light songs in Odisha on contemporary themes and ballads based on popular legends in Odisha.
The Odia cinema, colloquially known as Ollywood, is the Odia language Indian film industry, based in Bhubaneshwar and Cuttack in Odisha, India. The name Ollywood is a portmanteau of the words Odia and Hollywood.
Prashanta Nanda is an Indian director, actor and politician from the state of Odisha. He is currently a Member of Parliament at Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament, for Odisha. He had worked predominantly in Odia film industry but also worked in Bengali film industry and Hindi film industry extensively. He was also a former minister in Odisha state.
Ramakrushna Nanda was an Indian writer, educator and author of children's literature. He composed the song Ahe Dayamaya Biswa Bihari, a favourite of Mahatma Gandhi when Gandhi was at Sabarmati Ashram. This song was included in his Odia-language textbook Sahitya Sopana.
Devdas Chhotray is an Indian Odia author, administrator and academician. He was the first vice-chancellor of Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, Odisha. His work consists of poetry, short stories, lyrics, musicals and screenplays. Chhotray's father Gopal Chhotray, a recipient of Padma, Central Sahitya Akademi and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, was an architect of modern Odia theatre.
Bijay Mohanty was an Indian actor in Odia Cinema. He starred in the film Chilika Teerey, which was honored a National Film Award.
Sisir Mishra is an Indian film director and screenwriter best known for directing Hindi and Odia language films including Bheegi Palkein, Samay Ki Dhara, Billoo Baadshaah, TADA and Aseema.
Nikhil Baran Sengupta was a Hindi, Bengali, and Oriya art director, actor, painter and production designer. He made his debut as an art-director with "Gapa hele be Sata" (1975). His contribution to the success of films such as Janani (1984), Sahari Bagha (1985), Maa O Mamata, Suna Chadhei (1987), Jugantar, Tahader Katha, Bagh Bahadur (1989) and Mr. and Mrs. Iyer (2002) had always been acknowledged but less talked about.
Bijoy Ketan Mishra is a director of art films in Odia, in Orissa, India. He is also an independent media production professional. He is the Resident Editor of the Orissa edition of the Newspaper, Political and Business Daily.
Dukhiram Swain was an Indian film and television actor. He was one of the most popular villains in Odia cinema and played a variety of roles most notably as the antagonist in many Odia films and various roles in television serials. He was considered to be one amongst the club of natural actors. He won the National Film Award for Shesha Shrabana (1976), the Orissa State Film Award for Best Supporting Actor and several "Best Villain" awards from State Film Awards and the Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi. He was honoured with the Jayadeva Purashkar of Odisha.
Gopal Chhotray (1916–2003) was an Indian dramatist and playwright. He was born in Puranagarh village of Jagatsinghpur district in Bihar and Orissa Province, India.
Shesha Shrabana is a 1976 Odia language Indian movie. It is directed by Prashant Nanda. It stars Prashant Nanda, Mahasweta Roy, Banaja Mohanty and Hemant Das. It is based on a novel of Basant Mahapatra by the same name. In 1979, the film remade as Naiyya in Hindi language by the same director. This film achieved great success in terms of box office and acclaimed by reviewers.
Prem Anand is an Indian music director and composer. He usually works in Odia film and television industry. In 2006, he started his career as a music director through the Odia movie Tu Eka Ama Saha Bharasa and worked as a music director in more than 60 Odia films. Apart from Odia films, he composed music for Odia daily shops, Bhajans and Jatra songs. In 2009, Anand worked as a music director for the Hindi film Dekha Bhai Dekh in 2019, he composed music for Bollywood film Luv U Turn. Apart from Odia and Hindi films, he composed music for Marathi and Bengali films. He composed the 2023 Men's FIH Hockey World Cup anthem.
Mohammad Nizam was a lyricist in the Odia movie industry. Nizam's songs appeared in over 160 movies. He was a screenwriter for over 50 movies and television shows, as well as providing scripts for over 70 stage shows.
Chittaranjan Tripathy is an Indian actor, director, writer and music director who predominantly works in Hindi and Odia films. He is best known for his role as Trivedi in the Netflix series Sacred Games.
Debu Bose was an Indian actor born in Odisha, British India. Bose made his debut in the film Tapasya in 1980. The actor has acted in over 120 movies within his career, spanning over four decades.
Satyabrata Tripathy is an Indian actor, radio personality, VJ and television presenter, who mostly works on Odia language films and television shows. He is appointed as the chairman of Odisha Film Development Corporation by the Government of Odisha in 2018. In his career, he has worked is Script, Lyrics, Dialogue & Direction. He has also scripted and directed many Docu-Dramas, and telefilms.
Godabarish Mohapatra was a story writer and poet in Odia literature. He was also a journalist of Odisha, best known as the editor of "Niankhunta", a monthly criticism magazine, and "Tuan Tuin", a monthly children's magazine.
