On Wednesday, the Academy the voting body of the annual Oscars awards invited 819 members in their efforts to diversify its ranks. Included among them are Bollywood actors Hrithik Roshan and Alia Bhatt.
If the two actors accept the invitation, they will be bestowed with voting rights in the upcoming 93rd Academy Awards, which will be held on April 25, 2021.
Reacting to the news, filmmaker Milap Zaveri took to Twitter to congratulate the actors. “Fabulous! Well deserved! Both @iHrithik and @aliaa08 are super talented super stars. They will be a great addition to the Academy (sic),” wrote the Satyameva Jayate director.
Over the years, one of the main goals of the Academy was to add diversity in the voting body. In 2016, the board set out the objective of doubling its minority membership by 2020. Hence, 45 per cent of the 2020n invitees are women and 36 per cent are people of colour.
Among the 819 invitees, other Indians who have made it to the list are costume designer Neeta Lulla, documentary filmmakers Nishtha Jain and Amit Madheshiya, casting directors Nandini Shrikent and Tess Joseph, visual effects supervisors Vishal Anand and Sandeep Kamal and film score composer Nainita Desai.
