“For 13 Years We Pretended To Be Cousins,” Apurva Asrani On His Relationship With Siddhant Pillai

Professionally, Apurva Asrani is the well-known scriptwriter for Manoj Bajpayee and Rajkummar Rao starrer ‘Aligarh’ and editor for ‘Satya’, ‘Shahid’ and ‘Made in Heaven’. On the personal front though, he has reportedly had to hide his relationship with partner and music curator Siddhant Pillai from landlords.

According to News18, he shared that they pretended to be cousins to rent houses for 13 years before buying a home together.

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

Hindustan Times quoted him adding, “Now we voluntarily tell neighbours we are partners. It’s time LGBTQ families are normalized too.”

Siddhant replied by saying, “Truly overwhelmed by and grateful for all this love coming our way. @Apurvasrani and I have only ever followed our hearts and taken things head-on without giving much thought to naysayers.”

His news was met with happiness and congratulatory messages from celebrities like filmmaker Nikkhil Advani, Sophie Choudry, Kunal Kapoor, Amid Sadh, Ashish Choudhry, and Guneet Monga.

Love love love 💓

— Sucharita Tyagi (@Su4ita) May 29, 2020

this is so awesome, i'm gonna cry. i feel so happy for you people😍

— kraz (@KrazZzeee) May 29, 2020

Super! Wishing you guys a very happy life together ❤️

— Kunal Kapoor (@kapoorkkunal) May 29, 2020

Time and exposure are the greatest weapons against prejudice
People meeting people of diverse backgrounds in real life, finding common ground—that’s the exposure part
But time, it moves at a crawl when it comes to social change—might be of even greater importance#TeachAcceptance

— Ishdeep Kohli (@ishdeep_kohli) May 29, 2020

Congratulations and yes you deserve normal lives as anyone else. Hope your neighbors are supportive.

— Puneet (@gpuneet06) May 29, 2020

Lovely, really happy for you both, even though I don’t know either one. But then emotions can connect with much less. We all should be free to fly however we like to 🙂

— ainara kaur (@AinaraKaur) May 29, 2020

Big step in any relationship to buy a home together. May this only strengthen yours, and offer you both the stability, security & peace of mind that is everyone's right. Huge Congratulations! Throw open the damn curtains (I bet they'll be pretty ones) #LoveIsLove

— Simona Terron (@SimonaTerron) May 30, 2020

Breaking stereotypes one at a time! Well done! More power to both of you! 🇮🇳 ♥ 🏳️‍🌈

— Rhaegar 🔥🐉 (@thePatriot_IND) May 29, 2020

More power to you guys. Big bear hug ❤️❤️

— Mushtaq Shiekh (@shiekhspear) May 29, 2020

More power to you!

— vir sanghvi (@virsanghvi) May 29, 2020

Amazing …. congratulations and best wishes for a beautiful life together in your beautiful new home. 🌈❤️❤️🌈.

— Onir (@IamOnir) May 29, 2020

Congrats dearie’s!!

— Divya Dutta (@divyadutta25) May 30, 2020

Beautiful..

— Rahul Dev (@RahulDevRising) May 29, 2020

Much love @Apurvasrani 💜💜

— Renuka Shahane (@renukash) May 30, 2020

We hope instances like these foster acceptance and inspire others in LGBTQIA+ relationships to “throw open the damn curtains” both literally and figuratively as #LoveIsLove.

Cover Image Source