Purushottam Laxman Deshpande


Pu La Deshpande , popularly known by his initials or as P. L. Deshpande, was a Marathi writer and humorist from Maharashtra, India. He was also an accomplished film and stage actor, script writer, author, composer, musician, singer and orator. He was often referred to as "Maharashtra's beloved personality".
Deshpande's works have been translated into several languages including English and Kannada.

Biography

Early life

Purushottam was born in Krupal Hemraj Chawl located on Gamdevi Street, Chowpati, Mumbai in a Gaud Saraswat Brahmin family to Laxman Trimbak Deshpande and Laxmibai Laxman Deshpande. His maternal grandfather, Vaman Mangesh Dubhashi, was a poet and connoisseur of literature. He had translated Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali into Marathi under the title "Abhang Gitanjali".
The family used to stay at Kenway House, Procter Road in the Grant Road locality in Mumbai. His family then moved to Jogeshwari. His first 8 years at the newly formed Saraswati Baug Colony are described in the story titled 'Balpanicha Kaal Sukhacha' or Bālpaṇicā Kāḷ Sukhācā in his book Purchundi. The family then moved to Vile Parle.His father was working at Advani Paper Mill on daily wages. He earned 150 rupees daily.

Education

Deshpande studied at Parle Tilak Vidyalaya. He attended Ismail Yusuf College after high school and then Government Law College, Mumbai for LLB. Later he attended Fergusson College in Pune and obtained his Bachelors in Arts, in 1950 and then obtained his Masters in Arts from Willingdon college, Sangli He also took lessons in playing harmonium from Dattopant Rajopadhye of ''Bhaskar Sangitalaya.

Personal life

His first wife died soon after the wedding in the early 1940s. On 12 June 1946, Deshpande married his colleague, Sunita Thakur. Thakur was to go on to become an accomplished writer in her own right. The couple did not have any children, they loved their nephew, Dinesh Thakur like their own son.

Professional life

Both Deshpande and his wife served as teachers in Orient High School, Mumbai. He also worked for some years as a college professor in Rani Parvati Devi College Belgaum, Karnataka and Kirti College, Mumbai.
He also worked for newly founded Doordarshan, the state owned Indian TV. He was the first person to interview the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on Indian television. He was seconded to the BBC for a year-long training. After which he spent some time in France and in West Germany. It was this specific period and stays in these countries that his later travelogue "Apoorvai" was to be based upon. His other travelogue include "Poorvaranga" and "Jave Tyanchya Desha".

Accomplishments

Pu La Deshpande was a proficient Hindustani classical musician. He went on to gain fame as an author, screenplay writer, actor, director, music director and singer. He participated in several philanthropist activities

Death

Deshpande died in Pune, Maharashtra on 12 June 2000 due to complications from Parkinson's disease. He was aged 80. He was survived by his wife Sunita. He died on the 54th anniversary of their wedding. Sunita died after P.L. Deshpande, in 2009.

Filmography

Pu La Deshpande donated and participated in several social and philanthropic causes.
is the movie released on 4 January 2019 on P L Deshpande directed by Mahesh Manjrekar. The lead role of Deshpande is done by Sagar Deshmukh. The movie was criticized by many for taking unnecessary cinematic liberty, defaming many well known, well respected, and prominent personalities along with Pu La himself; and distortion of facts from the descriptions in books by Pu La himself and Sunitabai’s book Aahe Manohar Tari.

Documentary

- This is a Films Division documentary in which Pu. La. himself reveals his life journey. It was filmed on occasion of his 60th birthday. There are two other documentaries made on Pu La. One by Mukta Rajadhyakshya and Sudhir Moghe called Ya Sama Haa on his 75th birthday, and Pu La Vruttant, made by Dr. Jabbar Patel, in which Pu La himself talked about his life.
'Namune', a new serial is arriving on television based on Dehpande's literature.In this serial actor Sanjay Mone will play Deshpande's role. It will be broadcast ed on 'Sony Sab' channel on the television. Along with Sanjay Mone there will be various actors from  
Hindi and Marathi film industry.