User Profile

Apurva Asrani is a film editor & screenwriter who began his career in 1995 by editing the promos of Sanjay Bhasali's 'Khamoshi'. He became an independent film editor in 1998 with Ramgopal Varma’s 'Satya' and became known for an unconventional storytelling style. Apurva has shaped the narrative of several films including 'Chhal', 'Snip', 'Om Jai Jagadish’, 'Shahid', ‘Jalpari’, 'Children Of War' 'Citylights', 'Waiting' & most recently 'Aligarh'. Apurva has won several honours for editing, including the National Award for 'Snip!’, the Filmfare Award for 'Satya' and the Maharashtra State Award for the same. Besides editing 'Shahid', Apurva also worked as a co-screenplay writer on the film, for which he won the Life Ok Screen Award for ‘Best Screenplay’ (shared with Hansal Mehta). 'Aligarh', a human rights biopic, staring Manoj Bajpai & Rajkummar Rao, released in Feb 2016 to worldwide critical acclaim. With the gay rights drama, Apurva turned full-fledged screenwriter and penned the story, screenplay & dialogue for the same. 'Aligarh' premiered at the Busan Film Festival & had its Europe premiere at the 'London Film Festival' before becoming the first Indian film to open the 'Mumbai International Film Festival (MAMI)' in 16 years. Owing to its non-stereotypical depiction of a gay man, the film seems to have become a symbol of dignity & hope for gay men and women around the country. Since the year 2009, Apurva has shown a keen interest in realistic and socially relevant cinema. 'Shahid' is about a pro bono lawyer fighting for minorities wrongly imprisoned under draconian terrorism laws. 'Jalpari' is about female infanticide & the skewed sex ratio in Haryana. 'Citylights' highlights the growing rural to urban migration problem in India. Apurva recently wrote 'Simran' for Hansal Mehta which explores the mind of an unlikely urban criminal.