Writer
Apurva
Asrani,
known
for
penning
and
editing
Manoj
Bajpayee's
Aligarh,
recently
purchased
a
new
house
with
his
partner
Siddhant
Pillai,
who
is
a
musician
by
profession.
In
a
Twitter
post,
he
revealed
that
he
and
his
partner
pretended
to
be
cousins
for
13
years
to
rent
a
house
together.
He
also
said
that
they
hid
their
identity
for
many
years
because
they
were
asked
not
to
let
their
neighbours
know
that
they
were
a
gay
couple.
On
Friday,
the
writer
finally
opened
up
about
his
relationship
with
Siddhant
in
a
tweet,
and
also
shared
a
picture
of
their
apartment's
nameplate
that
read
'Apurva
and
Siddhant.'
Speaking
about
normalizing
LGBT
families
in
India,
Apurva
wrote,
"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."
Apurva's
tweet
received
a
lot
of
love
and
warmth
from
his
industry
colleagues.
Filmmaker
Nikhhil
Advani
wrote,
"Congrats
guys!!!
So
happy
you
look."
"Amazing
....
congratulations
and
best
wishes
for
a
beautiful
life
together
in
your
beautiful
new
home," read
Onir's
comment.
Director
Vasan
Bala
and
actress
Sophie
Choudry
dropped
heart
emojis
in
the
comment
section.
Earlier,
in
an
interview
with
Indian
Express,
Apurva
had
opened
up
about
growing
up
as
a
gay
man,
and
said,
"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."
The
National
award-winning
filmmaker
met
his
partner
Siddhant
on
social
media.
When
the
couple
decided
to
move
in
together,
their
parents
supported
their
decision.
Speaking
about
it,
Apurva
revealed
in
an
HT
interview
in
2017,
"All
our
parents
wanted
to
know
if
we
had
a
stable
partner
who
will
stick
by
us
through
thick
and
thin.
Our
happiness
mattered
the
most
to
them.
When
they
saw
that
we
share
the
same
values,
they
were
relieved."
Apurva
Asrani
is
known
to
be
one
of
the
most
active
voices
for
the
LGBTQ
community
in
the
film
industry.