Filmmaker Apurva Asrani Shares Photo With Partner, Hopes For More LGBTQ+ Visibility

Apurva Asrani, hindi film editor and screenwriter, shared an adorable photo with his partner on the occasion of Valentine's Day and wished for a better future for all the LGBTQ+ couples in India.

Critically acclaimed filmmaker Apurva Asrani shared an adorable post with his partner Siddhant on his social media handles. The Aligarh fame writer expressed his delight and joy about post decriminalisation of Article 377 and hoped for a better future for all the LGBTQIA+ couples in the country. "14 years today since we first held hands. We battled a law that criminalised us, a society that rejected us and found solutions to our problems without role models or familial support. We hope the new post 377 India will be kinder to LGBTQ couples. Here's to more visibility," Apurva captioned in his post.

14 years today since we first held hands. We battled a law that criminalized us, a society that rejected us and found solutions to our problems without role models or familial support. We hope the new post 377 India will be kinder to LGBTQ couples. Here's to more visibility.🌈❤️ pic.twitter.com/hdSuGhXAQV

— Apurva (@Apurvasrani) February 14, 2021

Apurva's love story

On May 29, 2020,  Apurva posted a photo of the nameplate of his new house, which he purchased with his partner Siddhant. He wrote on social media about how he and his partner had to lie about being cousins all throughout before coming out. He further urged people to normalise same-sex relationships.

“For 13 years we pretended to be cousins so we could rent a home together. We were told ‘keep curtains drawn so neighbours don’t know ‘what’ you are’. We recently bought our own home. Now we voluntarily tell neighbours we are partners. It’s time LGBTQ families are normalised too,” he captioned in the post of his nameplate.

For 13 years we pretended to be cousins so we could rent a home together. We were told 'keep curtains drawn so neighbors don't know 'what' you are'. We recently bought our own home. Now we voluntarily tell neighbors we are partners 💕. It's time LGBTQ families are normalised too. pic.twitter.com/kZ9t9Wnc7i

— Apurva (@Apurvasrani) May 29, 2020

Apurva has been an influential voice in the fight for equal rights for the LGBTQIA+ community in our country. In an interview in 2018, he spoke about what it is like to grow up as gay. He expressed, “It’s the same for any person growing up in any sexually repressed society—you grow up in closets. It’s a dark space where no one else is allowed and all you have is a torch for company. You search inside your confined space for answers but there isn’t another soul who can share your feelings. You try and find answers through magazines, porn, noises that infiltrate from the outside world. It is lonely."

About the Filmmaker

Born on March 21, 1978, Apurva Asrani is a critically acclaimed filmmaker based in Goa, India. He has written various critically successful projects like the human rights drama Aligarh, the courtroom drama Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors, has co-written & edited the film Shahid. He is also an editor who worked for the cult gangster film Satya in 1998 and the web-series Made in Heaven in 2019. In 2005, he also directed the music videos of Tera Mera Pyar for Sony Music India.

He was a part of many other Bollywood movies either as an editor and/or screenwriter and bagged numerous awards, even the prestigious National Award, Filmfare Award & Screen Award.