Apurva Asrani purchases house with partner Siddhant, says ‘For 13 years we pretended to be cousins’ – bollywood

Screenwriter Apurva Asrani on Friday posted a picture of the nameplate of his new house, which he has purchased with partner Siddhant. The writer urged people to normalise same-sex relationships, and noted how he and Siddhant had to lie about being cousins for most of their lives together.

“For 13 years we pretended to be cousins so we could rent a home together,” he wrote on social media, sharing a picture of the nameplate, and of himself with Siddhant. Apurva continued, “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.”

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 is known for writing films such as Aligarh, about a smalltown college professor demonised for engaging in a same-sex relationship in secret. He also served as an editor on the first season of Amazon Prime’s Made in Heaven, which featured a gay lead character.

Apurva’s post has been ‘liked’ over 20000 times, and has been received with a lot of warmth. But a glimpse of the replies to his tweet shows that there are detractors as well. “More power to you guys. Big bear hug,” wrote film writer Mushtaq Shiekh. “Congrats guys!!! So happy you look,” wrote filmmaker Nikkhil Advani. And while director Vasan Bala and Sophie Choudry left red heart emojis, filmmaker and gay rights activist Onir wrote, “Amazing …. congratulations and best wishes for a beautiful life together in your beautiful new home.”

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Others who left supportive comments include Rahul Dev, Kunal Kapoor, Amid Sadh, Ashish Choudhry, Guneet Monga and others. In an interview to the Indian Express in 2018, Apurva had spoken about growing up as a gay man. “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,” he’d said.

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