An assistant on one of Channel V's show called on the Bollywood countdown show BPL Oye! in 1995, Apurva Asrani started his career at the age 17. Setting foot in the film industry, Apurva, at the age of 19, was first associated with Ram Gopal Verma's Satya as an editor in 1998, which was appreciated by critics and audience alike. Apurva went on to win the Filmfare Award for Best Editing for his work in Satya. After his debut, he went on to work on movies such as Snip!, for which he won the National Film Award for Best Editing, Om Jai Jagdish, Tasveer 8x10, and Aashayein. Despite working on several projects, Apurva gained recognition for his work on Hansal Mehta's Shahid, marking their second outing. Having written the screenplay of the movie, Shahid, which is based on the real life story of lawyer and human rights activist Shahid Azmi, went on to receive widespread appreciation and won numerous awards.

Among his many other projects are movies such as Jalpari: The Desert Mermaid, Children of War, CityLights, and Dharam Sankat Mein. Winning accolades, Apurva was the editor and writer of the Manoj Bajpayee and Rajkummar Rao-starrer Aligarh, which is based on the story of Ramachandra Siras, a professor at the Aligarh Muslim University. The movie was highly acclaimed critically and was well-received by the audience. Next, he, along with Nitin Baid, edited the Kalki Koechlin and Naseeruddin Shah-starrer drama Waiting, which opened to positive reviews at the box office. In 2017, Apurva collaborated with Hansal Mehta for the fifth time on the Kangana Ranaut-starrer Simran, which he wrote the screenplay, story, and dialogues for.