Apurva Asrani has a bough a new house with partner Siddhant. (Photo: Apurva Asrani/Twitter)

Apurva Asrani, who wrote Manoj Bajpayee starrer Aligarh, recently shared how he and his partner Siddhant pretended to be cousins for 13 years to rent a home in Mumbai. But now, the duo has bought a house and are proud to tell their neighbours that they are partners.

The screenwriter shared on Twitter, “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’.” Apurva shared a photo of the nameplate of his new house that he has bought with Siddhant. He shared, “We recently bought our own home. Now we voluntarily tell neighbors we are partners. It’s time LGBTQ families are normalised too.”

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

Apurva’s tweet got him and his partner a thumbs up from his colleagues in the film industry. “More power to you guys. Big bear hug,” wrote writer Mushtaq Shiekh. Nikkhil Advani congratulated the couple and tweeted, “Congrats guys!!! So happy you look.” Sophie Choudry and Vasan Bala replied on the tweet with heart emojis.

In 2018, while talking about section 377, Apurva shared his experience of growing up with The Indian Express, “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.”

He added, “You learn to hide your true self. You create dishonest relationships with your parents, who could have been your greatest support structure.”