Film star Akshay Kumar today had a freewheeling informal interaction with Prime Minister Modi. It showed PM Modi in a different light, as an individual instead of as a politician. During the interaction, Akshay Kumar asked PM Modi if he spends time on social media and whether he is amused when he sees the memes on social media.
Here’s your meme @Atheist_Krishna pic.twitter.com/VBjzkLVHdg
— Yo Yo Funny Singh (@moronhumor) April 24, 2019
One of the memes was of the people from the film fraternity had come together and met PM Modi. One Twitter user @atheist_krishna had used his Photoshop skills to make them all wear a ‘Jai Shree Ram’ bandana on their forehead.
Just came to know about the person who forwarded my meme to Akshay Kumar sir, which he showed to PM Modi. Can’t reveal his/her name. And thank you @akshaykumar Sir for showing my meme to @narendramodi ji. ??#ModiWithAkshayhttps://t.co/BnZja2eoZM pic.twitter.com/3t9SMe5xut
— Krishna (@Atheist_Krishna) April 24, 2019
Soon enough, Akshay Kumar himself recorded a video message for the user who goes by the name Krishna on Twitter appreciating his skill and artwork.
WOOOOOW!!!!
This is the best thing that happened to me on Twitter. Thank you @akshaykumar Sir. ?? pic.twitter.com/QOtJbTh65Z— Krishna (@Atheist_Krishna) April 24, 2019
Akshay said his friends who know of Krishna had told him about the amazing Photoshop work he does especially to put a smile on people’s face. Kumar mentioned how he had shown one of the memes he had done to Prime Minister Modi and that he had a hearty laugh at it. He then wished Krishna luck for trying to make people smile with his clean humour.
Krishna is often seen on Twitter sharing Photoshopped images of people who send him requests to edit out certain photographs.
DONE…………..! pic.twitter.com/WwatqomoQ8
— Krishna (@Atheist_Krishna) April 22, 2019
DONE…………! pic.twitter.com/UxtJHzupKC
— Krishna (@Atheist_Krishna) April 21, 2019
And he has his moments where he has to decide on how to not play God.
Hi @arhatmehta , wish I could remove the mark in real like I can do it easily using Photoshop. Don’t let the kid feel as if having a mark is bad. Make him so successful that people will talk about him not his mark, like people talk about Hrithik’s dance not his extra finger. pic.twitter.com/kiAETGQgVS
— Krishna (@Atheist_Krishna) April 18, 2019
But that does not stop him from making jokes on others. Especially politicians. He also makes jokes on PM Modi and BJP President Amit Shah as well.
Mamata Didi buying Kurta for Modi ji.#ModiWithAkshay pic.twitter.com/F9XthI7BHg
— Krishna (@Atheist_Krishna) April 24, 2019
Effect of Jawed Habib joining BJP. pic.twitter.com/upjOIcVEMd
— Krishna (@Atheist_Krishna) April 22, 2019
And other politicians.
Who Did This? ??#HardikPatel pic.twitter.com/3cZ4jQfgy7
— Krishna (@Atheist_Krishna) April 19, 2019
OpIndia team reached out to him and he clarified that his name is indeed Krishna and he is an atheist coming from a religious family. However, he said, he does not ridicule religions. Krishna said he was not aware that Akshay Kumar showed his meme to PM Modi till he saw it on Twitter. “I got the information about my Photoshopped meme being shown to PM of India Modi ji on Twitter first. The first message was by @rahulroushan which said: “Did Akshay Kumar just show Photoshop by @Atheist_Krishna to PM Modi.”
Krishna said this is his first brush with a real celebrity. “Neither Akshay Kumar nor PM Modi follows me on Twitter. In fact, everyone jokes that whatever you do, PM Modi will never follow you back,” he jokes.
Speaking about his Photoshop journey, Krishna says he is a self-taught artist from a small town who now lives in Vizag and Hyderabad. In 2012, his father gave him a new laptop with a pre-installed version of Photoshop. “At first, I tried to do some face swap but failed and then didn’t use it for a year or so. Then, one day I saw a Photoshop tutorial on YouTube and tried it on my laptop it worked fine. That’s how I stated learning about this software. Then one day I saw the Twitter handle of James Fridman @fjamie013 doing funny Photoshop artwork. At that time I thought why couldn’t I try this with the Indian audience? And then there was no turning back. So yes, James Fridman has inspired me,” Krishna says. He says he gets a lot of requests for Photoshop, but he admits he could not cater to them all because he is far from being a professional artist.
Speaking of requests, Krishna has also received requests from corporates who want him to design their logo, which he has to turn down because he feels he is not a professional artist who would be able to do justice to the job on hand.
Recently, suspended bureaucrat Ashish Joshi who was caught using official letterhead to send personal letters masking as an official circulation from the department of telecom, was found threatening legal action against Krishna. Krishna had posted a picture where he had Photoshopped opposition leaders in a meeting between Pakistani PM Imran Khan and Pakistani army chief with the caption that Opposition leaders have reached Pakistan to look for proofs of the Balakot airstrikes.
बालाकोट में मारे गए आतंकवादियों के सबूत जुटाने पाकिस्तान पहुंचा विपक्ष। pic.twitter.com/Khnj1kOISe
— Krishna (@Atheist_Krishna) April 5, 2019
Joshi, clearly deprived of a sense of humour, decided to file a police complaint against Krishna.
Dear Shikha @AddlCPCrimesHyd ,
I am reporting handle whose owner is located in HyderabadThe handle @Atheist_Krishna has 2.52 lakh followers,hence the impact it can create on rumourmongering /false news.
It hides behind garb of parody
I hv informed Raghuvir, cyber cell
2/n
— Ashish Joshi (@acjoshi) April 5, 2019
Following Akshay Kumar’s acknowledgement of Krishna, a very visibly livid Joshi was busy branding Krishna a ‘Hindutva Social Media Terrorist’.
This proves that #FakeNews Peddlers like @Atheist_Krishna, HSMT – have direct links with chaps like @akshaykumar, directly to top
My complaint against @Atheist_Krishna for #FakeNews Peddling ?https://t.co/jjN6NK1N79
Shocking !
P.S : HSMT : Hindutva Social Media Terrorist https://t.co/NM69WgCL9u
— Ashish Joshi (@acjoshi) April 24, 2019
Krishna said that while he has been on the receiving end of hate and abuse at times, the threat from Joshi has been his first. “I am fortunate enough that people from Left, Right and Center like my work and know I do it fun and intend no harm to anyone. There are also people who hate me because of my Center to Right ideology but never ever they threatened me of police, they just come and abuse and that’s it,” Krishna says. OpIndia is of the opinion Ashish Joshi should probably just take a chill pill and use his time during suspension to do something productive.
Clearly, an endorsement from Akshay Kumar and Prime Minister Modi have ruffled quite a few feathers. But as of now, Krishna is enjoying his moment. And very well deserved, if we may say.
OpIndia team wishes Krishna the best.
