Naseeruddin Shah, Shah Rukh Khan and Tabu have been invited to join Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.The group behind the prestigious Oscars film awards has invited 928 artists and executives to join the Academy Awards selection body – almost half of whom are women. JK Rowling, Indian actor Tabu, Jade Plankett Smith are among the prominent names.Of those invited by the US Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, just over a third are from minorities.
The move is part of a plan to double the number of women and ethnic minorities in the Academy by 2020.
Shah Rukh Khan, Tabu and Naseeruddin Shah are among a record 928 new members invited by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as the body behind the Oscars seeks to enhance diversity.
In an announcement, the Academy said the new members will increase the diversity in a major way as 49 per cent of its invitees are female and 38 per cent are people of colour. Artistes from 59 countries have been invited as members. India features prominently in the list of the new invitees that also includes Madhuri Dixit, Anil Kapoor and Ali Fazal. A R Rahman, Irrfan Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan are already Academy members.
Hollywood’s awards seasons have been marked by controversy with the #MeToo campaign, which exposed and raised awareness of sexual harassment, and the #OscarsSoWhite movement, as the body has been blamed for having white-males dominantly. Among those invited to join the Academy are female cinematographers from Mexico and France.Other women stars on the list include US actors Jada Pinkett Smith, Amy Schumer, Ann Dowd and Christine Baranski, and the comedians Tiffany Haddish and Sarah Silverman.
Listed notable male stars include African-American comedian Dave Chappelle, Oscar-nominated Black Panther actor Daniel Kaluuya and French-American actor Timothée Chalamet, who starred in the film Call Me By Your Name.
If all 928 of the Academy’s invitations are accepted, female membership will rise to 31% from 28%, while ethnic minority members will increase to 16% from 13%, according to the academy.
It would also raise the number of voting participants for the Oscars film awards to a new high of about 9,300 people, the New York Times reports.
In 2016, actors including Marvel star Chadwick Boseman said they were inspired to join the Academy because of the strength of the #OscarsSoWhite diversity campaign, which began with a tweet by activist film producer Rita Wilson. “I felt obligated to join,” said Boseman, who plays superhero Black Panther in the Marvel films.
Wilson said at the time that it was right to join because the Academy was now “open to hearing what the issues were”, reports BBC.
