The Guideu00a0tells you about the Pulotsav, a festival dedicated to PL Deshpande and his quirky sense of humour, which will include short films, poetry reading, plays and other cultural events

Performances at Pulotsav

Pulotsav is an annual event organised by the Aashay Sanskrutik in memory of renowned litterateur and humourist PL Deshpande or Pu La as he was fondly known. "When PL Deshpande turned 80 we organised the first Pulotsav. After his death, we coaxed his wife about the festival as it showcases the multifaceted personality of Deshpande and what he stood for. Thus, Pulotsav was born," states Virendra Chitrav, the festival director. In it seventh edition, the opening day was marked by a two-minutes of silence in memory of Sunita Deshpande, PL Deshpande's wife, who passed away on Saturday.

The festival will feature activities on various genres of art such as literature, drama, music and other fine arts. Chaitrav adds that he has observed a number of festivals in India and abroad but has not come across any festival that contained all the art forms under one umbrella.u00a0u00a0

"This is the speciality of Deshpande. He was a multifaceted person in every way, because of which the festival took this shape," Chaitrav elaborated.

Though, the demise of Sunita Deshpande was a big shock, the organisers decided to continue with the preparations as the Deshpande couple had always believed that the show must go on.

The festival now travels outside Pune too. It will now travel to other major cities of Maharashtra like Ratnagiri, Kolhapur, Solapur, Nashik, Nagpur and Aurangabad. Traditionally, the festival stretches from November 8 (Deshpande's birth anniversary) to June 12 (which marks his death anniversary).u00a0

This year's theme is humour, across literature, drama, films and even cartoons. The theme was an easy choice given that PL Deshpande had humour in his soul.

At: Tilak Smarak Mandir, Tilak Road, Sadashiv Peth.
Till: November 18. Seasonal tickets cost Rs 500 and are available at venue.
Call: 24336040 / 24329694

Schedule of Pulotsav

November 11u00a0
6 pmu00a0PL
Smruti Sanman: Vijaya Mehta awards Kishori Amonmkar.
Face to face interview of Kishori Amonkar by Girish Kuberu00a0
Tilak Smarak Mandir