Hridaynath Mangeshkar gets lifetime achievement award at Pulotsav

PUNE: Hridaynath “Balasaheb” Mangeshkar was the recipient of the lifetime achievement award at Pulotsav this year. The award was instituted by Pu La himself and was created out of his own royalties.

Babasaheb Purandare presented the award to Mangeshkar on Saturday, which was Pulotsav’s first day.

During the ceremony Purandare’s wit and one-liners kept the audience entertained.

He even spoke about Hridaynath’s father, Deenanath Mangeshkar .

“Deenanath Mangeshkar died young. He did not receive much treatment and struggled a lot in the process. The family’s responsibility then fell on Lata Mangeshkar. But they did not forget their father’s struggle, or that of other people who were receiving treatment. That is why they built the Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital in the city,” Purandare said.

Mangeshkar spoke about the first time he met Pu La Deshpande, in Kolhapur. “I lived near Baburao Painter’s house with my sisters and his neighbour was G D Madgulkar. Pu La came there often. I met him for the first time in 1943. I always had difficulty walking, so I could not climb the stairs to look at Painter’s artwork. Pu La saw me, recognized me as Master Deenanath’s son, and lifted me upstairs and explained the paintings to me,” he said.

Mangeshkar added, “What made Pu La stand out was his love for others’ music and literature. There are portraits of Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Rabindranath Tagore at his home. He wanted to know how instruments and vocals sound without the microphone, so he went to Pandit Ravi Shankar and others’ homes. Once I wrote a piece in Maharashtra Times about my show at the Royal Albert House in London and his was the first letter to the editor, praising my article.”

Mangeshkar even spoke about the last time he met Pu La, six months before he died. “I had gone to meet Bal Thackeray regarding the hospital we were constructing. Pu La was there then. He was suffering, his hands were trembling. I asked him how he felt. He referred a ghazal and said many people have suffered and he can too. That was the last time I saw Pu La,” he said.