Petla was born in a Telugu-speaking Hindu Velama family in Pithapuram, East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh. His native village is Bapiraju Kothapalli, Narsipatnam, Visakhapatnam District in Andhra Pradesh. He studied at St. Theresa R.C.M. high school in Pedaboddepalli. Petla is his family name, Puri Jagannath is his given name, which is in honor of the Lord Jagannath Temple of Puri. 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, and Amisha Patel in supporting roles. He is a good friend to actor Ravi Teja who starred in his blockbuster films like Itlu Sravani Subramanyam, Idiot. He has also worked in Kannada industry and introduced Puneeth Rajkumar. In 2011 he worked with Amitabh bachchan.