Oscars: 6 Indians including Kajol, Suriya invited to become Academy members

New Delhi: The list of invitees for becoming Academy members is out, it includes the likes of Kajol and Suriya from the Indian film industry. If they accept the invitation, they will henceforth be able to vote for the Oscar nominations and winners. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, on June 28, invited a total of 397 members of the global film community to join the organization.

There are 6 Indian included in the list of invitees. Kajol and Suriya Sivakumar, known for Jai Bhim and Soorarai Pottru, are invited to the actor’s branch of the Academy. Other Indian names include Pan Nalin, known worldwide for Samsara and Angry Indian Goddesses, in the director’s branch, Sushmit Ghosh and Rintu Thomas in the documentary branch and Reema Kagti in the writer’s branch.

Sushmit Ghosh and Rintu Thomas have worked together on the documentary film ‘Writing with fire’. Reema Kagti, who is invited to the writer’s branch has writing credits for films like Gully Boy and Made in Heaven.

In the past, eminent personalities of Indian cinema like Irrfan, Anurag Kashyap, Anupam Kher, Deepika Padukone, Sneha Khanwalkar and many others have been invited to become a member of the Academy.

According to an Academy-provided breakdown of the new invitees, 44 per cent are women, 37 per cent are non-white and 50 per cent are non-Americans (54 different countries). #OscarsSoWhite trending on the internet has led to this expansion and inclusion of non-whites and non-Americans in the Academy.

This year the list of invitees includes last year’s Oscar winners like Billie Eilish and Troy Kotsur to name a few. Other notable names include Gaby Hoffmann, Anya Taylor-Joy and Kodi Smit-McPhee.

Here is the list of all actors invited to the Academy:

Funke Akindele – “Omo Ghetto: The Saga,” “Jenifa”
Caitríona Balfe – “Belfast,” “Ford v Ferrari”
Reed Birney – “Mass,” “Changeling”
Jessie Buckley – “The Lost Daughter,” “I’m Thinking of Ending Things”
Lori Tan Chinn – “Turning Red,” “Glengarry Glen Ross”
Daniel K. Daniel – “The Fugitive,” “A Soldier’s Story”
Ariana DeBose – “West Side Story,” “The Prom”
Robin de Jesús – “tick, tick…BOOM!,” “The Boys in the Band”
Jamie Dornan – “Belfast,” “Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar”
Michael Greyeyes – “Wild Indian,” “Woman Walks Ahead”
Gaby Hoffmann – “C’mon C’mon,” “Wild”
Amir Jadidi – “A Hero,” “Cold Sweat”
Kajol – “My Name Is Khan,” “Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham…”
Troy Kotsur – “CODA,” “The Number 23”
Vincent Lindon – “Titane,” “The Measure of a Man”
BarBara Luna – “The Concrete Jungle,” “Five Weeks in a Balloon”
Aïssa Maïga – “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind,” “Mood Indigo”
Selton Mello – “My Hindu Friend,” “Trash”
Olga Merediz – “In the Heights,” “Adrift”
Sandra Kwan Yue Ng – “Echoes of the Rainbow,” “Portland Street Blues”
Hidetoshi Nishijima – “Drive My Car,” “Cut”
Rena Owen – “The Last Witch Hunter,” “The Dead Lands”
Jesse Plemons – “The Power of the Dog,” “Judas and the Black Messiah”
Sheryl Lee Ralph – “Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit,” “The Distinguished Gentleman”
Renate Reinsve – “The Worst Person in the World,” “Welcome to Norway”
Marco Rodriguez – “El Chicano,” “Unspeakable”
Joanna Scanlan – “After Love,” “Notes on a Scandal”
Kodi Smit-McPhee – “The Power of the Dog,” “Let Me In”
Suriya – “Jai Bhim,” “Soorarai Pottru”
Anya Taylor-Joy – “The Northman,” “Last Night in Soho”

Here is the list of everyone invited to the director’s branch:

Newton Aduaka – “One Man’s Show,” “Ezra”
Andrew Ahn – “Fire Island,” “Spa Night”
Bruno Villela Barreto – “Four Days in September,” “The Kiss”
Mariano Barroso – “Ants in the Mouth,” “Ecstasy”
Rolf de Heer – “Charlie’s Country,” “Bad Boy Bubby”
Jeferson Rodrigues de Rezende – “The Malê Revolt,” “Bróder!”
Pawo Choyning Dorji* – “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom”
Blessing Egbe – “African Messiah,” “Iquo’s Journal”
Briar Grace-Smith – “Cousins ,” “Waru”
Reinaldo Marcus Green – “King Richard,” “Monsters and Men”
Ryusuke Hamaguchi* – “Drive My Car,” “Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy”
Sian Harries Heder* – “CODA,” “Tallulah”
Gil Kenan – “City of Ember,” “Monster House”
Amanda Kernell – “Charter,” “Sami Blood”
Mary Lambert – “The In Crowd,” “Pet Sematary II”
Blackhorse Lowe – “Chasing the Light,” “5th World”
Nalin Pan – “Last Film Show,” “Samsara”
Jonas Poher Rasmussen* – “Flee,” “Searching for Bill”
Isabel Sandoval – “Lingua Franca,” “Apparition”
Amy Seimetz – “She Dies Tomorrow,” “Sun Don’t Shine”
Rachel Talalay – “A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting,” “Tank Girl”