Purushottam Laxman Deshpande: A Multifaceted Genius And Keen Observer Of Human Life.
While reading the book Humour and Humanity written by Stephen Leacock, I came across with one sentence in the book which said that Humour is the compassionate contemplation of life’s inconsistencies and its artistic invention, and immediately I remembered one personality who was having full understanding of the human psychology and he glorified the human behaviour through his writing style of humour and satire. This Personality was a multifaceted genius. He was an author, playwright, screenplay writer, films director and producer, actor, singer, harmonium player, music composer, orator and above all he was a great observer of human behaviour. He was also known as a philanthropist. He was a great performer and handled all his artistic creation in a great skill. He was nothing less than legend. Through his writings and performances, he presented complexity with simplicity. Therefore, he started ruling in the hearts of every Maharashtrians and still continues to rule after twenty years of his death. Yes, in true sense, He became the beloved personality of Maharashtra and continues to remain till generations to come. He was Purushottam Laxman Deshpande, popularly known as Pu La for his readers.
From: Yogesh Gogwekar.
Purushottam Laxman Deshpande was born on 8th November 1919 in Krupal Hemraj Chawl, at Gamdevi Street, Chowpati, Mumbai in a Gaud Saraswat Brahmin family to Laxman and Lakshimibai Deshpande. As mentioned by him in one of his books, in the beginning his family was staying in Kenway House, Procter Road in Grant Road, later on shifted to Saraswati Baug Colony in Jogeshwari. There, they stayed for eight years before shifting to Vile Parle. He did his schooling from Parle Tilak Vidyalaya and completed his graduation from Ismail Yusuf College, Mumbai and did his LLB from Government Law College, Mumbai. He Joined the Fergusson College to obtain BA degree and did his MA from Willington College, Sangli. After seeing his love for music, his father brought harmonium for him and sent to Bhaskar Sangitalay to get the lessons of harmonium from Ditropan Rajopadhye.
Before becoming a multifaceted personality and writer, P L Deshpande started teaching in Orient High School, Mumbai. Shivsena Chief Babasaheb Thackeray and his brother Shrikant Thackeray, Dr. Vithal Prabhu, Bhai Bhagat, Ram Patwardhan, Scientist Bal Gothaskar and Actress Kamini Kadam were his students in Orient School. In Orient school, he met his life partner Sunita Deshpande who was an accomplished author and had acted in many dramas in the past. They married on 12th June 1946. Later on, P L went to Belgaum to become professor in Rani Parvati College and came back to Mumbai to join as professor in Kirti College. When he was teaching in Orient school and also in Colleges, he was also writing short stories in Marathi for Satya Katha. In 1950, his first book KHOGIRBHARATI was published followed by his second book Tu Ka Mhane Aata and his embarking career in multiple fields of writing, acting, directing, music composing had started.
P L entered the film industry as an actor and playback singer but became versatile all-rounder in the world of cinema. His contribution was tremendous as an actor, playback singer, music composer, writer of screenplays and dialogues, director and producer. He was an actor and playback singer in his first film Kuber which was made in 1947 followed by Bhagyaresha and Vandemataram in 1948. In collaboration with G D Madgulkar, he did films like Pudhache Paool, Dev Pawala, Doodh Bhat and Dewabappa. In 1953, he produced and directed a sentimental melodrama, ”Gulacha Ganapati’ in which he proved his ability as a versatile all-rounder. It is considered one of his best films. He has also written the story for Hindi film Phool Aur Kaliyan which was directed by Ram Gabale in 1960 and another film was Aaj Aur Kal directed by Vasant Joglekar in 1963. In 1955, he decided to leave the film industry permanently to join All India Radio. Again After three decades, he wrote dialogue and screenplay for Marathi film Ek Hota Vidushak directed by Jabbar Patel in 1992.
In 1960, he resided in Delhi to join Public Broadcaster Doordarshan which was still under development. It was state-owned Indian TV. He was sent for training purposes to England and other European Countries. He was the first person to take an interview of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for Doordarshan. In Doordarshan, he got opportunities to show his talents as humourist and stand-up comedian. He started narrating some of his own stories in a unique style as simple format. This program has become so famous that people started comparing this with the famous comedian programme of Mort Sahi and George Carlin of the USA. He started addressing the political issues from political debates of the day to people's false sense of pride about trivial things. During this deputation to BBC for training, he stayed in USA, France and Germany and based on his experiences and observations he has written travelogues names as Apoorvai and Jave Tyanchya Desha. He has also written the travelogue about his visit to the Asian countries named Purvarang.
P L Deshpande has written three act-plays like Mothe Mase Aani Chhote Mase, Vithal to Aala Aala and Aamhi Latike Na Bolu. I always like to read Vithal to Aala Aala through which P L Deshpande criticized authoritarian religious leaders. Like act-plays, he has written books like Varya Varachi Varat, Batatyachi Chal, Hasawinyacha Maza Dhanda and Asa MI Asami for one man show. Batatyachi Chal is an iconic book. It is a story of lower middle class people like music teachers, school teachers or clerks in banks or private companies who are the residents of Chawl situated in Girgaon in South Mumbai. It is a classic collection of Marathi Comic fantasy. It tells you the story of a cultural movement, a musical show and songs for women with interesting characters like Dwarkanath Gupte, Kashinath Nadkarni, Janoba Rege, Baba Barve, and Kocharekar etc. P L Deshpande has narrated his observations in a fantastic way. In the end, this book brings you from the high humour to depth of emotions.
In Asa MI Asami, P L has portrayed the life of a fictional common man who always fights between tradition and modernity. Dhondo Bhikaji Joshi, a character in this book, accepts the changes without any hesitation. He never says a single word when Tulsi plants gets replaced with ornamental cactus , his dhoti by a pair of trousers and his son starts calling him father instead of Baba. The story has been very well narrated in a humorous way by considering everyday events and struggles of a middle class family and also narrated very nicely by understanding the generation gap between Parents and Children. Varya Varachi Varat is written from the nostalgic look of the changing of villages. It is a story of simple and serene villages and its people getting changed due to urbanization.
P L Deshpande’s contribution towards Marathi Stage is fantastic. He has written nearly ten dramas. His first drama was Tu Ka Mhane Aata which was a failure. Later on he has written Amaldar which was the conversion of Nikolai Gogol’s Inspector General, Bhagyawan, Pudhari Pahijet, Tuze Ahe Tuza Pashi, Tee Phulrani, Sundar Mee Honar, Teen Paishancha Tamasha, Vatvat Vatvat and Ek Zunja Varyashi. Out of these, I have always like to watch his four dramas and considered as evergreen. These dramas are Tuze Ahe Tuza Pashi, Tee Phulrani, Sundar Mee Honar and Ek Jhunja Varyashi. Sundar Mee Honar is a story of middle-age woman who is the daughter of the King of Princess state but not able to walk due to aliments. Her Father is having conflicts with his children, this middle aged woman met a poet who is pen friend and he brings the changes in her life and builds confidence into her that she starts walking without anybody’s help. Tuze Ahe Tuza Pashi has been written on two different personalities. One is Kakaji who enjoys his life with the different test of music and speaks Marathi slightly in Hindi style as he grew up in Princess State and another person is Acharya who is an authoritarian religious leader and does cheap imitation and lives a miserable life. At the end, Acharya recognizes the shallowness of his life and accepts the changes. Tee Phulrani is an adaption of Bernard Shaw’s drama Pygmalion and very well written for Marathi audiences. Ek Zunja Varyashi is another adaptation of The Last Appointment of Vladin Dozorstev in which P L has shown the struggle of the common man to get justice for his truth.
P L has written biographies through five books like Gangot, Gun Gain Avade, Maitra, Apulki and Gandhiji. He has written twenty two humorous essays, nine comedy books and three novels, but his fantastic and ever green book is Vyakti and Vyalli. In this book, he has sketched each and every character in a magical way so that every character and each story adds meaning to our life. Some characters make us laugh whereas some make us cry. You can easily find these characters in our day to day life like Nanda Pradhan, Antu Barve, Sakharam Gatane, Chitale Master, Nau Parit, Bhaiyya Nagpurkar, Haritatya, Narayan and many others. This book has received the Sahitya Akademi Award. The Novel Eka Koliyane is translated from Hemingway book Old Man and Sea but very interesting to read in Marathi as one feels Marathi touch.
Many times, P L has been compared with P G Woodhouse. I never like this comparison. I have read the books of Woodhouse and also of P L Deshpande. I feel P L was a much better writer than P G Woodhouse. P G Woodhouse had written many musical comedies but lacked music in them and also did not contain the elements of actual life. P L Deshpande always considered small irrelevant things of life in his writings. His ability to create humour through ordinary situations is amazing. He had the ability to make us cry when we were enjoying the humour. Take Example of Chitale Master. We are laughing when we are reading the book but at the end it makes us cry in the last paragraph where P L was asked to go back to the first floor of his friend’s house to bring the Chappals of Chitale master who has forgotten there. In his inimical style, P L said that he did not have to spend the time to identify the Chappals of Chitale master from Shoe rack; the one with most worn soles out was his. This thing is missing in Woodhouse writings. Another example is Asa Mee Asami.
P L has always said that Music was his first love. He has composed many songs for films and even Bhavgeet and Bhajans. He played harmonium with several renowned vocalists like Bhimsen Joshi, Kumar Gandharva, Vasantrao Deshpande and Mallikarjun Mansoor. His music was melodious and captivating. Indrayani Kathi, Kabirache Vinito Shele, Maze Jeevan Gane, Shabda Vachun Kalale Sare, Mazya Kombadyachi Shan, Hee Koni Chedali Tar, Ithech Taka Tambu , Nach Re Mora are some examples.
NCPA was the dream of JRD Tata and Jamshed Bhabha which was designed by an Architect Philip Johnson. In 1982, P L Deshpande became director of NCPA. He was there till 1992. During his tenure in NCPA, he had given justice to the art, literature and musical activities. He organised many musical and literature programs. P L was a great admirer of Charlie Chaplin and Poet Rabindranath Tagore. For him, they are the two sides of a coin of humanism. To understand Tagore, he went to Shantiniketan to learn Bangla in order to translate the Tagore in Marathi. He has narrated all his experiences during his visit to Bengal in Vangachitre.
P L Deshpande was a philanthropist. In 90s, P L and his wife Sunita Deshpande set up Pu La Deshpande foundation and over the years this Foundation donated crore of rupees to the social and cultural organisations which include scientific laboratory, for rehabilitation centers , providing hostel facilities for Children of prostitute , Baba Amte’s Anandvan, etc.. He openly criticized on Mrs. Indira Gandhi for declaring emergency in 1975 and supported the movement of Jayprakash Narayan. He also translated Jayprakash Narayan’s book “Prison Diary” in Marathi named as Swaagat
P L Deshpande will continue to remain the beloved personality of Maharashtra. For Maharashtrians, he was a master to capture every aspect of unique life in Maharashtra. For that you can refer to his essay on Maharashtrian identity which has been written wonderfully on Mumbaikar, Punker and Nagpurkar. P L has been honored with many awards like Sahitya Akademi Award in 1965, Sangeet Natak Academi Awards in 1968, Maharashtra Bhushan in 1996 and Padma Bhushan in 1990. He also became the president of Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan in 1974.
Such a genius personality died on 12th June 2000 in Pune. Maharashtra will not have such multifaceted again. At the end of my writing, I quote his advice for every youth. He said, “Learn trade which will keep your stomach full and work hard towards it. But do not stop at that. Music, literature, painting, drama, sports; befriend any of them. A trade will teach you to live but friendship with finer things in life will give you the reason to live”.
Mumbai
08/11/2020
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