The Magic of Pu. La. Deshpande's writings: a critical appreciation

Pu. La. Deshpande ,short for Purshottam Lakshman Deshpande, is a renowned Marathi writer and humourist. He is also a successful scriptwriter, actor, author, singer, orator. He has the title of “Maharshtrache laadke vyaktimatv” or “Maharashta’s beloved personality”. He, in his lifetime, achieved many awards and laurels out of which a few are Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri, Sahitya Akademi Award and many more. He wrote over 30 books and worked for 50 plus films. Later he also started “kathakathan”-reading his own stories to an audience. His contribution to the comedy genre in Marathi literature is impeccable.

Pu. La. has a very unique way of writing. He narrates stories in first person and rarely does he not include himself as a character in them. He is a very descriptive writer. Going into details and creating images in the reader’s minds is something he mastered. Most of the times these details were always in the “build-up” of the story. Describing the setting, characters and adding comedic elements in them was his thing. While narrating in “kathakathan” he always made it a point to use voice modulations according to the character who is speaking which made it more of a performance and less of a boring reading. Another staple in his stories was his mention of his native place-Konkan region of Maharashtra. Maharashtra being such a big state, different regions had their own speciality and unique cultures and traditions. Being from Konkan myself, his descriptive and beautiful way of describing Konkan-the coastal region of Maharashtra- is what I love as i can live the story as he narrates it. His frank nature in narrating and beautifying daily life and occurrences was his trademark. He made relatable content for Maharashtra’s public hence his popularity. His stories that I personally loved were ‘Mhais’, ‘Paanwala' and ‘Asa mi.. asa mi’. Pu. La. was truly a literary master and his contribution to Marathi literature is immense.