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) Bhim Singh Manimala Pira Misra
Music by	Akshaya Mohanty
Cinematography	Alok Das and Sona Mukharjee
Production company	Shree Films
Distributed by	Sakha Distributors
Release date	10 December 1965 (1965-12-10)
Country	India
Language	Odia

Malajahna (Odia: ମଲାଜହ୍ନ, Dead Moon) is a 1965 Oriya film written and directed by Nitai Palit based on a novel of the same title by the Oriya novelist Upendra Kishore Das. The film stars Akshaya Mohanty (Kashyap) and Jharana Dasin the lead. Considered as a classic in the history of Oriya cinema, the film deals with an unusual theme in seventies in rural India of love between a married woman and a young man.

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

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.

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.

The music of the film was composed by the debutant Akshaya Mohanty and the lyrics were written by Kabisurya Baladev Rath, Banamali and Binodini Devi. Singers were Akshay Mohanty, Pranab Patanaik, Nandita Ghose, Kalyani Bhattacharya and Nirmala Mishra. The tracks from the film include: