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Bollywood: Vidya Balan, Ekta and Shobha Kapoor join Oscar Academy’s list, allowed to vote

Washington - Other newcomers in the list include Yuh-Jung Youn, Andra Day, Henry Golding, Vanessa Kirby and Robert Pattinson.

Bollywood actor Vidya Balan and producers Ekta Kapoor and Shobha Kapoor are among the new list of invitees of the Academy’s ‘Class Of 2021’. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announced its list of 395 artists and executives that have been invited to join this year.

Other newcomers include Oscar winners Yuh-Jung Youn, Emerald Fennell and Florian Zeller. Celebrities like Andra Day, Henry Golding, Vanessa Kirby, Robert Pattinson and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II have also been invited to join this year.

The Academy announced the names of the 395 invitees on their website. Their tweet read, “It’s time to announce our new members! Meet the Class of 2021. #WeAreTheAcademy.”

The Academy recognised Vidya for some of her iconic films such as the 2012 mystery thriller Kahaani and the 2017 family drama Tumhari Sulu.

Meanwhile, producers Ekta and her mother Shobha, who own the production house Balaji Telefilms, have been recognised by the Academy for bankrolling films such as Dream Girl, Once Upon A Time In Mumbai, Udta Punjab and The Dirty Picture.

Eight people have been invited to join multiple branches of the Academy. These include Leslie Odom Jr, Florian Zeller, Shaka King, Alexander Nanau, Emerald Fennell, Lee Isaac Chung, Craig Brewer, and Kaouther Ben Hania.

This year, the Academy has invited 395 people, about half the number of last year’s class, when it invited 819 members, reported Variety.

The new entries will bring up the number of eligible voters at the Academy to approximately 9,750.

The Academy said 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.”

The 2021 class is comprised of 46 per cent women, 39 per cent under-represented ethnic/racial communities and 53 per cent international from 49 countries outside the United States. Of the 395 invitees, 89 are former Oscar nominees, including 25 winners.

Other Indian celebrities who have been invited to join the Academy and vote in the Oscars in the past include Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Deepika Padukone, Irrfan Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Salman Khan and filmmakers Goutam Ghose and Buddhadeb Dasgupta.

The upcoming 94th Academy Awards are expected to be held on March 27, 2022.