Purushottam Laxman Deshpande

Purushottam Laxman Deshpande
Born 8 November 1919(1919-11-08)
Mumbai
Died 12 June 2000(2000-06-12) (aged 80)
Pune
Occupation Writer, Actor, Music Composer, Film and TV Producer and Director
Education M.A., LL.B.
www.puladeshpande.net

Purushottam Laxman Deshpande (Marathi: पुरुषोत्तम लक्ष्मण देशपांडे) (8 November 1919 – 12 June 2000) was a Marathi writer from Maharashtra, India. He was popularly known by his initials पु. ल. ("Pu. La.").

Deshpande was also an accomplished film and stage actor, music composer, harmonium player, singer, and orator.[1]

Contents

Biography

Purushottam Laxman Deshpande was born on 8 November 1919 in Gaodevi area (Krupal Hemraj Chawl) in Mumbai to Laxman and Lakshmibai Deshpande.He belongs to the Saraswat Brahmin community. His family then moved to Vile Parle before finally Pu La Deshpande settled in Pune for educational and work purposes.

Purushottam received his college education at Fergusson College in Pune and Willingdon College in Sangli. On 12 June 1946, he married Sunita Thakur, an accomplished author herself.They were both school teachers in Orient High School in Mumbai. She is most known for her book "Aahe Manohar Tari". She acted in some of his plays in the past. They had no children. It is also to be stated here that this was the second marriage for Purushottam whose first wife (former Miss. Diwadkar) had died in a relatively short span of time after marriage. ( This fact is not widely known but finds mention in an article by his brother-in-law Sarvottam ( Mohan ) Thakur on Purushottam. Sarvottam (Mohan) Thakur has stated that his sister herself i.e Sunita Thakur told their mother about his first marriage and the death of first wife. This article has been published in a book named "Tuziya Jaticha Milo Aamha Koni" which is a compilation of articles on P.L.Deshpande by relatives, friends and other literary & well known figures of Maharashtra. This book was published by the Mumbai based publishers Parchure Prakashan Mandir in November 2011)

For some years, Purushottam worked as a college professor in Belgaum in Northern Karnataka and as a school teacher before embarking on his career in writing, multiple fields of acting, directing, and composing music in the world of movies. As regards his stint as a college professor Deshpande was to write later that his job was to create hatred for Marathi language instead of love for it.This was more an attack on the system of education than on the teaching job itself.

He also worked for Doordarshan - the state owned Indian TV and was deputed to BBC in UK for a year long training after which he spent some time in France and also what was then West Germany. It was this period and stays in these countries that his travelogue "Apurwai" is based upon.

Purushottam took lessons in playing harmonium from Dattopant Rajopadhye of Bhaskar Sangitalaya. He was proficient in Hindustani classical music and was an accomplished music director and singer. Being a proficient writer, he wrote screenplays, lyrics and directed music for several Marathi films.

On 12 June 2000, he died of Parkinson's disease in Pune aged 80 [2].

A park in Pune city ( the city which he had adopted as home town) has been named after him.

Literary accomplishments

Deshpande was a prolific writer and produced numerous original works as well as adaptations of works from other languages into Marathi. He preferred to identify his Marathi adaptations of plays and novels in other languages as bhawanuwad (भावानुवाद), meaning "adaptation of the essence". Most of his writings are deeply rooted in Marathi language which some consider as his command over the language while some others consider it as a shortcoming. He is best known for his wit and his detailed observation and ability to put it succinctly. He was awarded a Sahitya Academy award for his book "Vyakti Ani Valli".

One-act plays

Plays

Children's plays

Light Hearted Books

Novels

Biography

Collections of life sketches

Other works

A list of some of the humorous essays

Hari Tatya, Pestan Kaka, Sakharam Gatane, Namu Parit, Narayan, Antu Barva, Bhayya Nagpurkar, Natha Kamt and To appear in the book titled Vyakti ani Valli (which is listed above under Collection of Life Sketches). These characters, and a few more, first appeared in various periodicals at different times. These character sketches were later compiled together and released as a book with the title "Vyakti ani Valli".

One-Man Stage Shows

Movies

Plots of plays

The play highlights the struggle of a middle-aged woman who is unable to walk because of an ailment. She is a daughter of a King or Zamindar of a small princely state in India. The play captures the conflict between her father and her brothers, and depicts changes in their lives after the British Raj took over their princely state. A poet, who is a pen friend of the protagonist, helps her gain confidence which enables her to start walking again.

The play casts criticism on authoritarian religious leaders and also depicts the positive and colorful view of life and generous spirit of a character in the play, which is in stark contrast to that of another character, an authoritarian religious leader. In the end, the latter recognizes the shallowness of his life.

Awards and recognitions

References

  1. ^ P. L. (PuLa) Deshpande Biography
  2. ^ PTI (June 12, 2000). "Pu La Deshpande passes away". Indian Express. http://www.expressindia.com/ie/daily/20000613/ifr13022.html. Retrieved 26 December 2010. 

External links

Preceded by
Gajanan Digambar Madgulkar		 Marathi Sahitya Sammelan - President
1974 Ichalkaranji		 Succeeded by
Durga Bhagwat