Menu
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences released a record-breaking number of invites to new members last night.
We say it’s record-breaking as the list includes 928 new members. This list features some of the biggest Indian talents like Anil Kapoor, Shah Rukh Khan and India’s recent export to Hollywood Ali Fazal.
Ali Fazal made his Hollywood lead role debut in Stephen Frears’s Victoria and Abdul co-starring Dame Judi Dench. Recognising his efforts and in a pursuit to diversify the Academy, Ali will now be a voting member.
Last year the Academy sent out 774 invites. Since 2014, the Academy has been on a directive to include more members to diversify its membership.
Speaking about it, Ali said,
“It’s an absolutely absolute honour for me to have been accepted into the Academy #IAmAcademy now. To one more step towards global cinema, towards one world, I am so happy the academy has diversified extensively over the past few years. And to include me in that prestigious list is in itself an honour for me and my country. I hope I serve well in the forthcoming years of entertainment. There are some heavy names out there on the list so am happy to share the stage with them on this”.
Here’s what Ali posted on Twitter this morning:
Some of the others invited to the Academy from India are actors Soumitra Chatterjee, Naseeruddin Shah, Tabu, Madhuri Dixit, Madhabi Mukherjee, producers Aditya Chopra and Guneet Monga, and musicians Usha Khanna and Sneha Khanwalkar. Also on the list are Ballu Saluja (editor), Manish Malhotra (designer), Dolly Ahluwalia (designer), Anil Mehta (cinematographer), Subrata Chakraborty (production designer) and Amit Ray (production designer).
