Google has prepared a special doodle on Sunday, 08 November 2020 to celebrate the 101st birth anniversary of Purushottam Laxman Deshpande, also known as Pu La Deshpande. The Google Doodle, designed by Mumbai-based artist Sameer Kulvoor, today recalls the great writer, music composer, playwright, actor and director Purushottam Laxman.
The doodle depicts writer, playwright, musician, composer, actor and director PL Deshpande with his harmonium, extending his hand to underline a note.
He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in the field of art in the year 190 by the Government of India. Along with this, Punyabhushan, Maharastra Gaurav, Padma Shri, Sahitya Akademi Award, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, Maharashtra Bhushan Samman, Kalidas Samman etc. were honored with many honors. In order to underline his extraordinary contribution to Marathi literature, the Maharashtra government had launched ‘P.L. Deshpande founded the Maharashtra Kala Academy. Apart from Marathi, Deshpande’s literature is in many languages including English and Kannada.
Deshpande’s famous Marathi films were Kubera, Bhagyeresha, Vande Mataram. Deshpande also wrote the screenplay and dialogues in Bhadyaane Deane Ahe, Manache Paan. Purushottam Laxman Deshpande died on 12 June 2000 in Pune.
Actually, PL Deshpande was also known as ‘Pul’ Deshpande, so Google has shown the word ‘Pul’ in the doodle. Regarding his inspiration for the Google Doodle, Kulvoor said that “Born and raised in Mumbai, Pul Deshpande’s name comes at the top of popular culture for which he has been continuously working. He did music, writing, film, theater, literature, and more. He was known as a fast observer of life, which one can see in his literary works. There is a wildly popular Marathi song that we kids at school were exposed to as ‘Nach Re Mora’ – I learned much later (to my surprise) that he had composed the song. ! “