Here’s another proud moment for India, the Oscar Academy’s Class of 2018 will have a number of Indians this time. Shah Rukh Khan, Soumitra Chatterjee, Naseeruddin Shah, Tabu, Madhuri Dixit, Ali Fazal and Anil Kapoor, apart from producers Aditya Chopra and Guneet Monga, as well as music artistes Usha Khanna and Sneha Khanwalkar.
On June 25, the official website made the announcement of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The new invitees are an effort on the Oscar-giving body to include more women, people of colour and international filmmakers.
Others who are a part of the list is “Dangal” editor Ballu Saluja, costume designers Manish Malhotra and Dolly Ahluwalia, cinematographer Anil Mehta, actress Madhabi Mukherjee, production designers Subrata Chakraborty and Amit Ray.
Ali Fazal, who featured with Judi Dench in “Victoria and Abdul”, a Oscar-nominated film, tweeted, “So so humbled to be included with the greats. Thank you The Academy for this membership. I look forward to this friendship for a long long time. Sending my love from India.”
Guneet Monga, the producer of “The Lunchbox” and “Masaan”, wrote on Instagram, “Honoured to have been invited to become a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Class of 2018 !!!!! Thank you for The Academy.”
The Academy extended invitations to a record 928 artistes and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures across the world. Those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy’s membership in 2018, read a statement.
Among the invitees, 17 are Oscar winners, while 92 are Oscar nominees, including Timothee Chalamet and Daniel Kaluuya. Forty-nine percent of the class of 2018 are female, and, should all accept membership, that will bring the overall percentage of women in the Academy to 31 percent.
Thirty-eight percent of the new invitees are people of colour, which, should they all accept, would bring their overall percentage of the Academy to 16 percent, according to Hollywood reporter.
Tiffany Haddish, Kal Penn, Kumail Nanjiani, Blake Lively, Dave Chappelle, Mindy Kaling, George Lopez, Amy Schumer, Sarah Silverman, Evan Rachel Wood, Naveen Andrews, Melissa Etheridge, Jada Pinkett Smith, Kendrick Lamar and J.K. Rowling are among the popular names on the list which ranges from actress Quvenzhane Wallis, who, at age 14, is the youngest, to composer Sofia Gubaidulina, who, at 86, is the oldest.
India Tribune, as an English weekly newspaper, was launched in 1977 in Chicago by its publisher Prashant Shah with a lofty ideal to serve the Asian Indian community in the USA. Over the years, it has grown with all vigor, and now it is being published in three editions – Chicago, New York and Atlanta. India Tribune, a journal of its kind for the family in the USA, has been a household name for many Indians for over three decades with each issue commanding a readership of over 125,000.
