Zoya, Anurag Kashyap & Anupam Kher Among New Academy Members

The Academy announced its new members.

Zoya Akhtar, Anupam Kher and Anurag Kashyap.

(Photo Courtesy: Pinterest)

In its endeavour to swell the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences membership ranks, 842 artists and executives from 59 countries have been invited to join this year. People of colour (29 per cent) and women (50 per cent) are among the many invitees, as the Academy continues to address its long-term white-male dominance.

This year, Zoya Akhtar, Anupam Kher, Anurag Kashyap and Ritesh Batra are among the artistes from India who have been nominated as the new members. The official Twitter handle of The Academy broke the news.

Zoya Akhtar has been known for films such as Gully Boy and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobaara. Gully Boy, which released this year, has been appreciated by both the critics and the audience. Zoya has also been a part of the hugely popular web show Made in Heaven.

An actor par excellence, Anupam Kher has been part of the Hollywood romantic comedy The Bick Sick, directed by Michael Showalter. He has also acted in Hotel Mumbai, the film based on the 26/11 attacks.

Gangs of Wasseypur remains one of our favourite gang-war films from Bollywood, and Anurag Kashyap has always taken the path less travelled. Bombay Talkies and Madly are some of his directorial ventures, which have also received their fair share of praises. Even Ritesh Batra is known for films like The Lunchbox and Photograph.

Srinivas Mohan, who worked on the VFX for the Baahubali series has also been welcomed as a member of the visual effects branch of The Academy.

Among the other members are Archie Panjabi, known for her role as Kalinda Sharma in The Good Wife and Nisha Ganatra, a Canadian actress, film director, film producer, and screenwriter of Indian descent.

Twenty-one Oscar winners are among the new invited members, including Guy Nattiv (Skin), filmmaker Jimmy Chin (Free Solo), Phil Lord, and Chris Miller (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), and 82 Oscar nominees (including Lady Gaga and Roma breakout Marina de Tavira).

In 2018, the Academy invited 928 new members. In 2017, Priyanka Chopra became one of the members of Academy of Motion Picture of Arts & Sciences (AMPAS) and the actress has praised the ongoing push for racial and gender equality.