Malajahna

Malajahna
Poster
Directed by	Nitai Palit
Produced by	Sriprasad Kanunugo Akshaya Mohanty Akshaya Mohanty (Kashyap) Arabinda Misra
Written by	Upendra kishore Das
Starring	Jharana Das Akshaya Mohanty (Kashyap) Sarat Pujari Bhim Singh Manimala Pira Misra
Music by	Akshaya Mohanty
Cinematography	Dinen Gupta
Studio	Shree Films
Distributed by	Sakha Distributors
Release date(s)	December 10, 1965 (1965-12-10)
Country	India
Language	Oriya

Malajahna (Oriya: ମଲାଜନ୍ହ) is a 1965 Oriya film directed by Nitai Palit starring Akshaya Mohanty (Kashyap), Sarat Pujari, and Jharana Das. The film deals with an unusual theme in seventies in rural India of love between a married woman and a young man.^[1][2]

Plot

Sati, who is forced into marriage by her poor parents with a rich ugly old man living with a concubine. She find the other way to overcome the mishap in her life, when a young neighbor Nath develops love interest with her. Both finally leaves the village and escape to Cuttack town. The conservative neighbors question about their relationship. Sati, unable to bear the scandal concerning her and Natha, finally commits suicide by jumping into the river.

Cast

• Jharana Das ... Sati
• Akshaya Mohanty (Kashyap) ... Nath
• Manimala
• Pira Misra
• Sarat Pujari
• Bhim Singh
• Purna Singh

Production notes

The Project was started in 1962 with co efforts of Akshaya Mohanty & Akshaya Mohanty (Kashyap). Some friends of the duo like Sarat Dev, Sriprasad Kanunugo & Arabinda Misra also supported to over come the financial crises. After four to five days of shooting, the project stopped due to financial crises. In 1963 the erstwhile king of Alli, Ban Bihari Dev again poured money to continue the project.After 60 percent shooting of the project completed, the project stopped for another one year due to the same financial crises. At last Akshaya Mohanty sought help of the producer & director Dhira Biswal. He took the responsibility on his shoulder and the film released in 1965.^[3]

Review

This poignant love story is narrated in the context of life in rural Orissa infested by superstitions,narrow caste prejudices and acute poverty. Women were like slaves with no mind and choice of their own and child marriages were widely prevalent. The agony and suffering of Sati may be seen as essentially related to the social evils that afflicted contemporary rural Orissa.

Music

The music of the film composed by Akshaya Mohanty. The tracks from the film include:

^[4]

Track	Singer	Lyricist
E Ranga Rahiba Nahin	Pranab Patnaik, Sikandar Alam, Nirmala Mishra	Binodini Devi
Rakata Tala Mala Khaira Pancha Kala	Akshaya Mohanty	Narashingh Mohapatra

Awards

• National Film Awards(1965) -Certificate of merit for best Oriya film

References

1. ^ "Other States / Orissa News : OFJF to screen a series of classic Oriya films". The Hindu. 2011-04-20. http://www.hindu.com/2011/04/20/stories/2011042060450200.htm. Retrieved 2011-07-16. 
2. ^ "Orissa: "Mala Janha" rescreened with emotions on the eve of 75th anniversary of Ollywood, Orissa Entertainment News". Orissadiary.com. 2011-05-02. http://www.orissadiary.com/ShowEntertainmentNews.asp?id=26386. Retrieved 2011-07-16. 
3. ^ "Malajahna". CinemaSagar. 2011-05-08. http://cinemasagar.com/2011/05/malajahna/. Retrieved 2011-07-16. 
4. ^ "Malha Janha :: Oriya Music Songs Collection". odiamusic.com. http://www.odiamusic.com/Category/CategoryResult.php?first=3&second=Malha%20Janha. Retrieved 2011-07-16. 

External links

• Malajhana at the Internet Movie Database
• Malajahna at The Complete Index of World Film