Anupam Kher, Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap and Ritesh Batra Invited to be Members of Oscars Academy

Four Indian film personalities have been invited as members by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, including Anupam Kher, Zoya Akhtar and Anurag Kashyap.

The list, which was released on Monday, represents a further push by the organisation to bring in new blood from all corners of the world in order to become more inclusive and globally focused.

Ritesh Batra, the director of Photograph and Lunchbox, has also been invited. As per Deadline, a total of 29% of the new class revealed Monday are people of color, marking an 8% increase in that statistic since 2015. Among the new invitees, 21 are already Oscar winners and 82 are past Oscar nominees.

Kashyap also shared the news with fans on his Twitter by simply writing, "We are the Academy".

Other actors and musicians invited to join include Jamie Bell, Sterling K Brown, Jennifer Ehle, Tom Holland, Lady Gaga, Barry Keoghan, Tracy Letts, Damian Lewis, Elisabeth Moss, Archie Panjabi, Kevin Pollak, Amanda Peet, Alexander Skarsgard and two veterans, Jean-Louis Tritingnant and Claire Bloom.

It is unclear how many members the Academy has in total. If all of those invited last year accepted invitations, the organization would have 9,226 members, not including the class of 2019.

In 2017, the Indians invited to be members included Shah Rukh Khan, Aditya Chopra, Soumitra Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee and Naseeruddin Shah. Two Indian producers were also added to the honour roll: Aditya Chopra, director, producer and founder of Yash Raj Films, and Guneet Monga (The Lunchbox, Haraamkhor). Last year, 20 Indian film personalities were invited to the Academy.

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