Purushottam Laxman Deshpande

Purushottam Laxman Deshpande (alternatively written as Pu La Deshpande; 8 November 1919 – 12 June 2000) was a Marathi writer and humorist from Maharashtra. 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.

Early life

Purushottam Laxman Deshpande was born in Gamdevi Street, Chowpati, Mumbai in a Gaud Saraswat Brahmin (GSB) family to Laxman Trimbak Deshpande and Laxmibai Laxman Deshpande. His maternal grandfather, Vaman Mangesh Dubhashi, was a Marathi poet and writer. He had translated Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali into Marathi, with 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 (translation: the happy days of childhood) in his book Purchundi. The family then moved to Vile Parle.

Education

Deshpande studied at Parle Tilak Vidyalaya. He attended Ismail Yusuf College after high school and then Fergusson College in Pune for BA. Later, he attended Government Law College, Mumbai for LLB. He completed Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1950 and then a Master of Arts (MA) degree from Willingdon College, Sangli. The couple did not have any children of their own. They raised Sunitabai's nephew, Dinesh Thakur as their own son. Pu La wrote on Dinesh in his book Gangot.

Professional life Educator 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 in Karnataka and Kirti College in Mumbai.

Television He also worked for Doordarshan, the state-owned TV channel. 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 this, he spent some time in France and West Germany. It was this specific period and stays in these countries that his later travelogue "Apoorvai" was to be based upon. His other travelogues are "Poorvaranga" and "Jave Tyanchya Desha". He was also the composer for many popular non-film songs in the "bhavegeet" genre sung by singers such as Jyotsna Bhole, Manik Varma and Asha Bhosale.

Death

Deshpande died in Pune, Maharashtra, on 12 June 2000, due to complications from Parkinson's disease. He was aged 80. He died on the couple's 54th wedding anniversary.