Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan Invited To Be A Part Of Oscar Academy's Class Of 2017

In a bid to add more diversity, The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences has issued 774 invitations to new members and several Indians have also been invited to be a part of the Oscar Academy's Class Of 2017.

Bollywood bigwigs like Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Salman Khan, Irrfan Khan and Deepika Padukone along with directors like Mrinal Sen, Buddhadeb Dasgupta and Goutam Ghose among others are on the list.

Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Academy President said in her statement, “We're proud to invite our newest class to the Academy. The entire motion picture community is what we make of it. It's up to all of us to ensure that new faces and voices are seen and heard, and to take a shot on the next generation the way someone took a shot on each of us.”

Our Bollywood celebs will brush shoulders with the likes of Gal Gadot, Chris Pratt, Dwayne Johnson, Chris Hemsworth and Anna Farris among others.

Since the last few years, the Academy has been severely criticized for being colour and gender biased. Thus, this year, they have added people of colour. The 774 members from 57 countries include 39 per cent females and 30 per cent non-white.