Anurag, Anupam, Zoya invited to join the Academy

Directors Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap and veteran actor Anupam Kher are among the 842 new members invited by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in its latest push to become more inclusive.

New Delhi: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced a list of new members and invited four Indian film personalities - Anurag Kashyap, Anupam Kher, Zoya Akhtar, and Ritesh Batra - to join the organisation.

A total of 842 artists from as many as 59 countries were invited to join The Academy this year. Achieving a new level of gender parity, the organisation announced that half of the members invited to join the Academy are women.

The organisation also disclosed that 29 percent of the new invitees are people of colour.

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The official Twitter handle of The Academy announced on Monday, "Best. Day. Ever. We're excited to invite these 842 inspiring storytellers to the Academy. Tweet your welcome using #WeAreTheAcademy today."

Bollywood veteran actor Anupam Kher has been invited in the actors' branch. He currently stars in the American medical drama series 'New Amsterdam' as a neurologist named Dr. Vijay Kapoor.

Ace filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, who has helmed films like 'Gangs of Wasseypur', 'Dev.D', 'Lust Stories', expressed his happiness and tweeted "#WeAreTheAcademy" attaching the organisation's tweet. Kashyap has been invited in the short films and feature animation branch.

Zoya Akhtar, who has directed movies like 'Luck By Chance', 'Dil Dhadakne Do', 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara' and 'Gully Boy', has also been invited to join the directors' branch.

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Indian visual effects supervisor Srinivas Mohan has also been invited by the group. Sherry Bharda, YRF Studios' Creative Supervisor has also been invited for the visual effects branch.

Ritesh Batra, the director behind Irrfan Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Nimrat Kaur's 'The Lunchbox' Nawazuddin and Sanya Malhotra-starrer 'Photograph', has been invited to join the writers' branch.

Among the other members of Indian descent are British actor Archie Panjabi of 'The Good Wife' fame and Canadian actor-director Nisha Ganatra who has helmed 'Chutney Popcorn'.

In 2018, 20 Indian film personalities, including Shah Rukh Khan, Naseeruddin Shah, Aditya Chopra, Ali Fazal, Anil Kapoor, and Tabu, were invited to join the organisation.

Indian film producer Guneet Monga, whose film titled 'Period. End of Sentence' bagged the Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject) at this year's Oscars, was also invited last year.

With inputs from ANI