Tribute
Pu La Deshpande

Long live Maharashtra’s son of the soil
In the passing away of Pu La, as PL Deshpande was endearingly known, the Marathi literary and entertainment world has lost one of the most colourful personalities who contributed enormously to the cultural ethos of Maharashtra for over 40 years...

PU LA, the 81-year old well-known playwright,|
actor, writer, film and theatre director, musician (he was an expert harmonium player), singer, music director, humorist and philanthropist, all rolled into one, was a household name with his humourous writings and speeches and the highly popular and successful plays like the one-man Batatyachi Chaal, Sundar Mee Honaar, tuze Aahe Tujpashi, Varyawarchi Varaat, Tee Phulrani, Teen Paishancha Tamasha and Vatvat Vatvat as also his film and non-film musical compositions like Maaze jeevan gaane, Mazia mahera Jaa, Indrayani kaathi, Kausalyecha Ram bai, Naach re mora ambyachya banaat, and Hi kuni chhedili taar, not to mention his extremely readable travelogues like Poorva Rang, Apoorvaaee and Banga Chitra.

Born in Mumbai on November 8, 1919, and also educated in that city, Pu La had brief stints as school and college teacher before he entered the entertainment world in the early ’40s as an actor and singer on the Marathi stage by joining MG Rangnekar’s Natya Niketan drama troupe. Paakhara jaa, the song he rendered in the play Vahini was an instant hit and so was Ja ga sakhi jaa the song he rendered in the MG Rangnekar produced, written and directed film Kuber a litle later in 1947. This film also marked his 7-year-long association with Marathi films during which he tried his hand not only at acting and singing but also music composing, directing and writing stories, screenplays, dialogues and lyrics as well. All these attributes he put to use in one film titled Gulacha Ganapati made in 1953.

Pu La married Sunita Thakur on June 12, 1946. She was his co-star in Vande Mataram (1948) directed by Ram Gabale. By a strange quirk of fate, Pu La died in Pune on June 12, 2000, the day which marked his and Sunita’s 54th wedding anniversary.
He made his screen debut as an actor in the Marathi film Kuber in 1947. It was directed by the well-known playwright M.G. Rangnekar, whose drama company, Natya Niketan, Pu La had joined as an actor. It was also in this debut film that Pu La lent his voice for the highly popular song Ja ga ja sakhi jawoon saang Mukunda.A year later, in 1948, he played the lead opposite wife Sunita, in Vande Mataram, directed by Ram Gabale. In this film,too, he playbacked for two songs-- Ved mantrahoon aamha vandya vande mataram and Ek paay tumchya gaawaat which were a rage with music lovers. His first stint in screen writing was in Jaaga Bhaadyane Dene Aahe(1949) as dialogue writer.

The same year, he scored music for two films --Maanaacha Paan and Mothi Manasa. In the first-named film, he had also contributed to the writing of story, screenplay and dialogues along with GD Madgulkar. The year 1950 was perhaps the most notable for him. That year he was associated with as many as eight films in various capacities. The films were Dev Paawla (music--remember the Manik Verma-rendered Kausalyecha Ram bai?), Gokulcha Raja (lyrics; also story,screenplay and dialogues jointly with Shivram Washikar), Jara Japoon (screenplay), Johar Maibaap (lead role), Kalyan Khajina (story, screenplay and dialogues jointly with GD Madgulkar), Navara Baiko (story, screenplay and dialogues; also music), Var Pahije (story jointly with Achyut Ranade; also dialogues) and Pudhach Paaool (lead role opposite Hansa Wadkar) which celebrated silver jubilee. The three films with which he was associated in1952 were Doodh Bhaat (screenplay, dialogues,lyrics and music), Ghar Dhani (screenplay, dialogues, lyrics and music) and Ammaldar (based on Gogol’s Inspector General of Police) in which he played the lead role besides writing the screenplay and dialogues jointly with G.D. Madgulkar and composed the musical score.

In 1953 he was associated with six films: Devbappa (writer and music composer with the extremely popular song by Asha Bhosle--Naach re mora ambyachya banaat); Gulaacha Ganapati, which he wrote, directed, scored its music and also played the male lead in it and in which well-known classical vocalist Pandit Bhimsen Joshi rendered Indrayani kaathi and Vasantrao Deshpande and Asha Bhosle sang Ithech taaka tambu; Maisaheb (screenplay, dialogues and music); Vitthalpayi (music, there were 15 songs in this devotional film); Nave Birhaad (story and screenplay) and Mahatma (story).

After 1953, Pu La’s association with films almost ceased. In 1963, producer-director Vasant Joglekar took his story for the Hindi film Aaj Aur Kal based on the writer’s Marathi play Sunder Mee Honaar; in 1979, he was the narrator in the Marathi comedy Chimanrao Gundyabhau and his last stint as screenplay and dialogues writer was in 1993 for the National Film Development Corporation-produced Marathi movie Ek Hota Vidushak.
Pu La was with the All India Radio, Mumbai, between 1957 and 1959. Later,the government of India sent him to England to acquire first-hand knowledge of television, since the government wanted to open its first television station in India in New Delhi.

After the opening of the TV station in New Delhi, Pu La remained in the Capital for some time but when he found that there was no scope for creative and independent functioning because of official red tape, he quit TV and returned to Mumbai.

Recipient of the Padmavibhushan, Pu La was bestowed with D Litt by the Tilak University and Ravindra Bharati. The Sahitya Akademi Award was conferred on him for his work Vyakti Aani Valli. He also received the Sanget Natak Akademi fellowship. He presided over the 50th Golden Jubilee Year celebration of the Marathi Sahitya Sammelan in Ichalkaranji in 1974. He was also the president of the Marathi Natya Sammelan, the Dalit Sahitya Sammelan and the second World Marathi Conference.

The government of Maharashtra conferred on him the Maharashtra Bhushan award in 1997. He was also associated with the National Center for Performing Arts as its honorary director for over a decade between 1982 and 1993.

But these awards, honours and achievements apart, Pu La was an extremely humble person. In the last statement he made, he said: "I did not give anything new to the world. This society, this world is like a fair. I, a man in the fair, just picked up whatever I liked."

Pandit Shimpi