 "Shah Rukh Khan, Naseeruddin Shah, Tabu among 20 Indians invited to be part of Oscar Academy's Class of 2018")
Los Angeles: Shah Rukh Khan, Soumitra Chatterjee, Naseeruddin Shah, Tabu, Madhuri Dixit, Ali Fazal and Anil Kapoor, apart from producers Aditya Chopra and Guneet Monga, as well as music artistes Usha Khanna and Sneha Khanwalkar, are among the Indians invited to be a part of the Oscar Academy’s Class of 2018. [caption id=“attachment_4597241” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] From left to right: Shah Rukh Khan, Soumitra Chatterjee, Tabu, Naseeruddin Shah. Images from Facebook[/caption] The announcement was made on 25 June on the official website of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The new invitees are an effort on the Oscar-giving body to include more women, people of colour and international filmmakers. Dangal editor Ballu Saluja, costume designers Manish Malhotra and Dolly Ahluwalia, cinematographer Anil Mehta, actress Madhabi Mukherjee, production designers Subrata Chakraborty and Amit Ray are also a part of the list. Ali, who featured with Judi Dench in
_Victoria and Abdul_, tweeted:
He further tweeted:
Monga, known for producing _The Lunchbox_ and _Masaan_ , expressed her gratitude on Instagram:
The Academy extended invitations to a record 928 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures across the world. Those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy’s membership in 2018, read a statement. Among the invitees, 17 are Oscar winners, while 92 are Oscar nominees, including Timothée Chalamet and Daniel Kaluuya. Forty-nine per cent of the class of 2018 are female, and, should all accept membership, that will bring the overall percentage of women in the Academy to 31 per cent. (Also read: Oscars 2018 failed to walk the talk on inclusiveness by choosing The Shape of Water over Three Billboards, Get Out ) Thirty-eight per cent of the new invitees are people of colour, which, should they all accept, would bring their overall percentage of the Academy to 16 per cent, according to hollywoodreporter.com. Tiffany Haddish, Kal Penn, Kumail Nanjiani, Blake Lively, Dave Chappelle, Mindy Kaling, George Lopez, Amy Schumer, Sarah Silverman, Evan Rachel Wood, Naveen Andrews, Melissa Etheridge, Jada Pinkett Smith, Kendrick Lamar and JK Rowling are among the popular names on the list which ranges from actress Quvenzhane Wallis, who, at age 14, is the youngest, to composer Sofia Gubaidulina, who, at 86, is the oldest. (Also read: Looks like Academy Awards took #OscarsSoWhite seriously: How the event can make history this year ) (With inputs from Indo-Asian News Service)
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