Not long ago, news about Mahesh Manjrekar making a biopic
on one of Maharashtra’s favourite writers, Purushottam Laxman Deshpande (affectionately referred to as
Pu La
) surfaced and sent fans of the late humourist’s work into a tizzy.
Putting rest to speculations about the lead actor in the film, Mahesh Manjrekar announced
Sagar Deshmukh as the onscreen Pu La in the film, titled Bhai and also confirmed that the film would be the first Marathi release of 2019.
Sagar, who is known for his roles in films like Hunterrr and YZ, spoke to us ahead of the announcement and shared some details about his preparation for the role. “If I have to sum up this experience in one word, I would say it’s exhilarating,” says Sagar. He further informs that he had no idea that his name was being considered for Pu La’s role. “I had thought that Mahesh Manjrekar would cast someone like Atul Parchure, Anand Ingale or Nikhil Ratnaparkhi in this role. Many feel Atul resembles Pu La a lot too. So, it was a pleasant surprise when I got a call from Manjrekar in late December last year asking if I would like to do the role,” he shares.
Biopics, generally, end up glorifying a person’s achievements and neglect a lot of other instances in their lives. But Sagar says that this one will be different. “Pu La’s achievements are already known, but for me this film gave an opportunity to know him as the person he was. That’s what will be presented for the viewers as well,” says Sagar.
Speaking about the film, Manjrekar says, “Pu La lives in the hearts of every Maharashtrian. Many of us know about his work, charity, generosity and social commitments but not much is known about his personal life. My attempt would be to discover his personality and share his untold story through this film.”
On his part, Sagar is prepping big time to know about the writer and get the nuances of his personality right. “Many people blame Pu La to have brought mediocrity in the lives of Marathi readers. But they overlook the fact that at least he inspired a huge population to pick up books. Revisiting his work has opened a whole new chapter of Pu La life before me. His writing, though comic in nature, has many underlying layers of human relationships and behaviour to it. I am doing my best to present the person as he was,” concludes Sagar.