Deshpande celebrates the completion of his 80th year on November 8 and the Pula Bahurupi 80 organisation has arranged a festival of his films from October 24 to 30 at NFAI, to be followed by other activities related to theatre till November 8. However, an unwell Pu La was conspicuous by his absence at the celebration.

Said Yash Chopra, when Shantaram introduced him as his bada bhai because Chopra has his office at the Shantaram-owned Rajkamal Studios and shoots most of his films there, ``I'm the bada bhai, which is all very well, but I have to pay for the office premises and shootings and for overtime as well. And if I'm the bada bhai, why don't I get a share of the Shantaram trust and inheritance?''

On a more serious note, he continued, ``My association with Pu La was rather short and dates a long way back, when films were made at the Prabhat Studio. But what I remember is the atmosphere that was very different then -- a lot of friends had gathered at one time and it was decided that a film should be made on the 1942 Quit India Movement, with Pu La as the hero. There was such tremendous enthusiasm that the film was made in three days.''

Ram Gabale, eminent Marathi film director has known Pu La for 40 years. He waxed eloquent on Deshpande's talents -- writing, singing and acting. ``Deshpande retained the mischievousness of a 12-year-old throughout, evident in his works. When an electrician was once called to Pu La's house, his wife started giving him instructions while he was checking the metre. Pu La admonished his wife `he is busy changing the `fuse,' don't `confuse' him.'''

``Pula and I have a special love for Kolhapur and the style of speaking, especially English. And whenever we felt our English was getting weak, we would go to Kolhapur. Once Pu La had gone to Kolhapur and was engaged with some people in conversation. They said, (in Marathi)- ``Everything has changed, people are using stainless steel utensils, we boiled the milk and heated the food, what happened? The vessel got burnt (karapla). Yes , replied Pu La, ``Nowadays, everything leads to ``corruption'' (from the word karapla). Gabale has worked with Deshpande in many films, some of which will be featured in the Pulotsav - Gulacha Ganapati, Pudach Paul and Devbappa.

After the inauguration, two films were screened -- a short humourous film made by Gabale and narrated by Deshpande and another 110-minute film on Pu La made by Films Division. The function was well-attended, with a sprinkling of theatre and film personalities present -- Shreeram Lagoo, Mohan Agashe, Dilip Prabhavalkar and Shrikant Moghe. A fitting birthday offering to the most widely read author in Maharashtra.