Apurva Asrani

Apurva Asrani (born 21 March 1978) (no relations with veteran Hindi film actor, comedian Asrani) is a National Award winning film maker, film editor and screenwriter based in Mumbai, India. He has a multimedia body of work in film, television and theatre and is best known for editing films like Satya (1998), Shahid (2013) and CityLights (2014). He is also the story, screenplay and dialogue writer of the acclaimed gay rights drama Aligarh (2016).

Early career

Apurva began his career in 1995 as an assistant on the Bollywood countdown show Bpl Oye! that aired on Channel V. At 19 he became a film editor on the film Satya, directed by Ram Gopal Varma. He then went on to edit Sunhil Sippy's bilingual comedy Snip!

Apurva's other work includes the gang war film Chhal (film) Chhal', directed by Hansal Mehta. His work on the film received rave reviews from critics. Film critic Subhash K Jha wrote 'The real hero of Chhal is Apurva Asrani's editing'. Apurva edited Anupam Kher's directorial debut Om Jai Jagadish and Kalpana Lajmi's Kyon?. He also collaborated with Nagesh Kukunoor on his Akshay Kumar starrer Tasveer 8x10 as supervising editor and as film editor on Nagesh Kukunoor's Aashayein, starring John Abraham.

In 2012, Apurva edited Nila Madhab Panda's Jalpari The Desert Mermaid. Jalpari is an adventure film that deals with the issue of female infanticide released on 31 August 2012. The film received glowing reviews and several critics praised Apurva's work on the film.

In 2005, Apurva directed the music videos of Sony Music India's album Tera Mera Pyar. The title track, "Tera Mera Pyar", was sung by Kumar Sanu; "Yeh Kya Hua" was sung by Shreya Ghosal and composed by UK-based artists Partners in Rhyme. Tera Mera Pyar won album of the year at the Sahara Music Awards in San Francisco.

In March 2006, Apurva represented India in Editing Fashion, a multimedia experiment for UK-based showstudio.com. Apurva's short film Imperfect Moon was showcased along with the film of British director, Mike Figgis.

On the UK stage, Apurva has collaborated with a British theatre company RIFCO Arts to write dialogue for three successful UK touring productions: Bollywood: Yet Another Love Story (2000/2003), The Deranged Marriage (2006) and There’s Something About Simmy (2007). He is also the additional screenplay writer of the film Shahid.

Awards

Apurva won the Filmfare Award for Best Editing for Satya at the Filmfare Awards held in 1999. In 2001, Apurva shared the National Film Award for Best Editing with Suresh Pai, for their edit of Snip!, a bilingual comedy directed by Sunhil Sippy. The National Awards citation read, "For creating an evocative rhythm enhancing the pace of the narrative while aesthetically maintaining the unit of form and content." He was also nominated for a Zee Cine Award for his edit of Hansal Mehta's Chhal in 2001. For the film Shahid, Apurva was awarded 'Best Screenplay' at the Life Ok Screen Awards in 2014 & the award was shared with Hansal Mehta.

Shahid

Apurva edited & co-wrote Hansal Mehta's Shahid (2012) that is produced by UTV Films, Anurag Kashyap & Sunil Bohra. The film is based on the true story of slain lawyer Shahid Azmi who fought several pro-bono cases in India. Shahid world premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 9 September 2012 & went on to win the Silver Prize at the Mumbai International Film Festival. Director Hansal Mehta had this to say about Apurva's contribution to the film – 'Apurva, besides editing the film also shaped the narrative into a seamless, linear progression for which I have credited him for screenplay. If the film communicates a compelling story a lot of credit for it goes to Apu'.

Citylights, Children Of War, Dharam Sankat Mein, Waiting

In 2014, Apurva edited Mrityunjay Devvrat's Children of War (formerly titled 'The Bastard Child'), a stark portrayal of the Bangladesh genocide of 1971 and Fox Star Studios & Vishesh Films CityLights directed by Hansal Mehta & starring Rajkummar Rao, Patralekha & Manav Kaul. Both films received glowing reviews from leading critics.

Aniruddha Guha in his Time-Out review of CityLights said: Hansal Mehta benefits from his association with long-time collaborator Apurva Asrani (editor, co-writer) who lends the film a personality that’s distinct (even from the original film). Rahul Desai in his Mumbai Mirror review of CityLights said: Mehta and writer-editor Asrani pull off a rare feat here. They not only choose the right film to adapt-based solely on its theme and universal topicality-but build upon the original, without being overambitious

In 2015, Apurva edited Viacom 18's 'Dharam Sankat Mein', an adaptation of the British hit The Infidel. In 2016, he co-edited the Manish Mundhra produced Waiting (film) Waiting directed by Anu Menon & starring Naseeruddin Shah & Kalki Koechlin.

Aligarh

In 2016, Apurva made his debut as a full-fledged screenwriter by writing the story, screenplay & dialogues of Aligarh that was directed by Hansal Mehta and produced by Eros International. The human rights biopic premiered at the Busan International Film Festival and had its UK premiere at the London Film Festival. It also enjoyed the rare honour of being the first Indian film to open the Jio MAMI (Mumbai Film Festival) in 16 years.

The film was among the best reviewed films of the year. Shubhra Gupta in her Indian Express review of the film wrote 'Like in ‘Shahid’, Hansal Mehta and scriptwriter Apurva Asrani have come up with a lead character and a film which shines with authenticity and emotional heft, and which leaves you thinking.' Aseem Chhabra in his Rediff.com review of the film wrote 'The film will stay with the audience for a long time. It is the first, deeply honest and a very real portrayal of a gay man on the Hindi film screen.'

Anupama Chopra in her glowing Hindustan Times review of the film wrote 'Hansal and writer Apurva Asrani have mined from real events but their dramatisation of Siras’ tragedy isn’t shrill or militant.' Stutee Ghosh in her review in The Quint wrote 'Aligarh is an assiduously made piece of brilliance. It makes for powerful viewing, not just because of the skill of director Hansal Mehta and screenplay writer Apurva Asrani, but also the topic that it explores.'

Apurva is currently writing the story, screenplay & dialogues of Simran. The films is directed by Hansal Mehta and stars Kangana Ranuat in the titular role.

Filmography