Who is Apurva Asrani? All About Indian Filmmaker!

Apurva Asrani is an Indian filmmaker and recipient of several coveted awards such as the National Award, Filmfare Award & Screen Award. Some of his noted works include writing the human rights drama Aligarh, a courtroom drama titled Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors, and co-writing and editing the movie Shahid.

In the role of editor, he has worked for blockbuster movies such as Satya and Made in Heaven, a web series. A proponent of the LGBTQ community, Apurva is quite active on social media platforms with 34,700 followers on Instagram and 28,800 followers on Twitter.

Physical Stats

Family

Apurva Asrani was born on 21 March 1978. The filmmaker’s father is Late Manohar Asrani and his mother’s name is Menka Asrani.

Relationship

On 6th September 2018, the Supreme Court of India passed its historical verdict on Section 377, decriminalizing gay sex. A few days later, Apurva made his 11-year-old relationship with his boyfriend Siddhant Pillai public via a Facebook post. The filmmaker changed his profile picture on the social media platform to one where he and Siddhant are seen standing in front of the iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris. Apurva Asrani also wrote that its 11 years of togetherness and he and his partner loved openly even though the law tried to stop them. He went on to add that now they can share their love with the world.

Later, in April 2021, Apurva on his Instagram account shared the news of him parting ways with Siddhant after a long 14 years. However, he wrote that their relationship has been important and valuable and that they are getting separated amicably.

Education

Apurva Asrani did his schooling at Baldwin Boys’ High School, Bangalore. Later, he enrolled at Jai Hind College, Mumbai, and completed his BA, in Psychology from that institution.

Controversies

In a shocking revelation, Priyanka Chopra, the Bollywood actress stated in her podcast that she was being cornered in the Hindi film industry. She also mentioned that she was tired of politics and hence moved to Hollywood.

Apurva, later came out in the public supporting Priyanka revealing that the industry has its favorites and they team up to chuck out an actor from the entire ecosystem. It was in an interview with Hindustan Times that Apurva Asrani stated that these egos call other egos and communicate to them not to work with a particular person. He went on to say that with the help of the media and powerful journalists, those people run campaigns to discredit a person. The filmmaker also said that they circulate false rumors about inappropriate behavior on the sets.

Profession

When Apurva was around eight or nine years old, his uncle gifted him a video camera. With that camera, the little Apurva Asrani went out to the slums of Mumbai and started capturing people. Later, when he was doing his first-year degree course at Jai Hind College, Mumbai, he participated in an intercollegiate contest and came up with a music video juxtaposing children’s images on John Lennon’s Imagine. It went on to win an award and Apurva got an internship for BPL Oye, a music countdown show.

When he was just 19 years of age, Apurva became a film editor for ‘Satya’, a Hindi movie directed by Ram Gopal Varma. He bagged the Filmfare Award for Best Editor for that movie and achieved the honor of being the youngest-ever recipient of that award.

Apurva’s other major projects in editing include Chhal, the gang war movie directed by Hansal Mehta, Anupam Kher’s directorial debut movie Om Jai Jagadish, CityLights, Simran, and Aashayein. He also worked as the supervising editor of 8 x 10 Tasveer.

In 2005, Apurva Asrani directed Tera Mera Pyar, a music video album by Sony Music India.

Source Of Income

As per sources, Apurva’s net worth stands at $5 million.

Lesser Known Facts About Apurva Asrani

• When he was 20 years of age, Apurva Asrani disclosed to his parents about his homosexuality. On hearing that, his dad was so hurt that he didn’t talk to Apurva for more than two years. The filmmaker’s mother was also shattered and she said that she went through a trauma that reminded her of the times when her husband was diagnosed with cancer.

• He left his college studies while studying for his first-year degree. Commenting about his decision, Apurva says that he chose to study what he wanted to do. 

• In his early days of work, Apurva Asrani used to work all day and night. There were times when he spent weeks in the office, sleeping hardly 3 to 4 hours a day. However, later he got rid of that schedule and nowadays Apurva works for 9 to 10 hours a day, trying to eat right, go swimming regularly, and also do meditation and yoga.

• Apurva revealed that the late Hindi actor Sushant Singh Rajput was snubbed at award shows. He also said that despite Sushant’s last movie doing a 100 crore business, he was projected as a flop.    

• According to Apurva, the biggest challenge faced by gay couples is renting a flat. He was speaking about the screening done by the elected members of society boards for the new tenants. The filmmaker went on to say that one has to face several questions ranging from whether one is a bachelor or a family person and even very personal questions regarding their family background. Even if a gay couple likes a flat and is ready to pay the rent, they have to answer all these questions, Apurva said.

• Apurva says that in spite of Priyanka Chopra delivering two hit movies, ‘Barfi’ and ‘Agneepath’ in the same year, some of the newspapers reported the news that no hero wants to work with her.

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