Anurag Kashap, Zoya Akhtar, Anupam Kher among new Oscar invitees

Indian actor Anupam Kher and filmmakers Anurag Kashyap, Zoya Akhtar, and Ritesh Batra have been invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Building on its push for global inclusivity, the Academy — which hosts the annual Oscar awards — has unveiled its list of invitees for the 2019 batch. A total of 842 new members from 59 countries have been invited, half of whom are women. Persons of colour constitute 29 per cent of the new invitees, bringing their overall membership to 16 per cent in the entire Academy.

Anupam Kher, who has worked in both Bollywood and Hollywood productions (Silver Linings Playbook, The Big Sick), has been invited to the Actors branch. Gully Boy-director Zoya Akhtar will be joining the Directors’ category, while Anurag Kashyap has been invited to the Short Films and Feature Animations branch. Ritesh Batra, best known for directing the films The Lunchbox and Photograph, is also on the list, alongside Indian-origin actor Archie Gupta and filmmaker Nisha Ganatra. Visual effects artists Srinivas Mohan (Baahubali, 2.0) and Sherry Bharda (Hitchki) have also been invited from India.

Other global personalities to join the Academy this year include Elisabeth Moss, Letitia Wright, Tom Holland, Lady Gaga, Adele, Gemma Chan, Jonathan M Chu, Cathleen Taff, Julie Rapaport, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.

The Academy had invited 928 new members in 2018 — its largest class in the last four years— which included Indian actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Naseeruddin Shah, Madhuri Dixit, and Tabu.