The aggregator of laughter

Atul Kasbekar turned a disastrous year of work into a year as creator of hilarious memes, jokes and observations on social media

Atul Kasbekar, 55
Photographer and filmmaker

Celebrity photographer and now film producer, Atul Kasbekar is honest when he says that 2020 was a pretty crappy year. More so, if your work includes being in close contact with people. "Work was a disaster. You can't take pictures or make pictures, without meeting people physically," he says. And yet, his company, Bling! Entertainment Solutions managed to clock in a record number of digital deals. But for us, Kasbekar was one of the few faces on social media, who didn't let the gloom and doom get to us.

The photographer, known for funny tweets, observations and memes, upped the game when the lockdown started. For instance, one of his retweets was of a map, titled Vocabulary as per Geography, that shows how different parts of Mumbai—South Mumbai, Bandra, etc—differ in their choice of expletives.

When work-from-home became the buzzword, he spread the joke: "God was seen walking around Kerala this morning… 'What are you doing?' the police enquired. 'Working from home,' God replied."

"I think it's easy for me to look on the bright side. That's because I wasn't displaced this year. I didn't have to travel hundreds of kilometres to get to my home. The maximum I had to do was clean my home, and cook a few meals. That's not hard at all. So, being grateful helped me to remain happier." The 55-year-old, whose bio on Instagram includes "aggregator of epic humour", always had a joke to tell, and also shared some heartwarming moments with his family. His posts were always credited to the original source. That followers responded with how he was helping them lighten their day, pushed him to do more.

"I think we all need to remember that there is someone up there looking after us. So, if you survived this year, you should be grateful. I also try and take much less stress now, because, well, that's doing no one any good. So, my advice to everyone is, do like I do, and just be as positive as you can."

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