Indian actor Vidya Balan and film producers Ekta Kapoor and Shobha Kapoor have been invited to join the Oscars Academy Class of 2021, which includes a total of 395 new members from 50 countries across the world.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences itself revealed the long list of new members, who have been invited to vote for Oscars. The names of Vidya Balan, Ekta Kapoor and her mother Shobha Kapoor stood out in the list.
They will be joining the Oscar governing body, Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences this year among 395 executive members.
It's time to announce our new members! Meet the Class of 2021. https://t.co/17gbIEXOzJ #WeAreTheAcademy
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) July 1, 2021
Why have they been chosen?
Vidya Balan has been recognized for her films like ‘Tumhari Sulu’ and ‘Kahaani’, while Ekta Kapoor has been recognised for producing films like ‘Dream Girl’ and ‘Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai’ and Shobha Kapoor has been recognised for producing ‘Udta Punjab’ and ‘The Dirty Picture’.
Oscars Academy Class of 2021
• The Oscars Academy Class of 2021 includes 395 new members from various fields including acting, direction, cinematography, documentary, film editing, makeup artists and hairstylists, music, producers, production design, writers, visual effects, sound, short films and feature animation, casting directors, costume designers, executives, marketing and public relations and members-at-large.
• Vidya Balan has been invited to join the Academy's class of 2021 in the actor's category. Other prominent names in the category list include Vanessa Kirby, Robert Pattinson, Paul Raci, Henry Golding, Issa Rae, Yuh-Jung Youn, Laverne Cox, Carrie Coon, Steven Yeun, Clark Peters and Leslie Odom, Jr.
• In the producer's category, other prominent names include Nomadland producers Dan Janvey and Peter Spears, The Invisible Man producer Kylie du Fresne and City of God producer Andrea Barata Ribeiro.
• The "Class Of 2021" comprises 46 percent women invitees, 39 percent members of different ethnic communities and 53 percent of international members from 49 countries other than the US.
• The Academy shared in a statement, “To enable steady future growth and to ensure the necessary infrastructure, staff resources and environment to support all Academy members, the number invited to membership was limited to roughly half that of recent years.”
Oscars Academy Class of 2020The prestigious Academy's Class of 2020 included a list of 819 executives including Indian actors Alia Bhatt and Hrithik Roshan, filmmakers Nishtha Jain, Amit Madheshiya, casting director Nandhini Shrikent and costume designer Neeta Lulla. This year the list has been cut to roughly half. |
Background
The Academy has come under criticism in the past over its biased Caucasian representation, which has allegedly affected the Oscars' voting process.
Several Indian stars have been a part of the Academy's prestigious list to vote for Oscars in the past such as Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone, Irrfan Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Salman Khan and filmmakers Goutam Ghose and Buddhadeb Dasgupta.
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