Shabana Azmi, SS Rajamouli, Ritesh Sidhwani, Ravi Varman among 487 new Academy members

The new list, released on June 25 by The Academy, includes 71 Oscar nominees, including 19 winners. Among the Indian stars who were invited to join The Academy were actor Shabana Azmi, directors Rima Das, SS Rajamouli, cinematographer Ravi Varman, costume designers Rama Rajamouli and Sheetal Sharma, and Anand Kumar Tucker, documentary filmmakers Nisha Pahuja and Hemal Trivedi, producer Ritesh Sidhwani, and choreographer Prem Rakshith.

Shabana Azmi is one of the most revered actors in Indian cinema, known for her work in parallel cinema. She is also the only actor to have won the National Award for Best Actress five times. SS Rajamouli took the world by storm with his last release RRR, which ultimately won the Oscar for Best Original Song for Naatu Naatu. The choreographer of the song Prem Rakshith is also one of the invitees this year.

Hemal Trivedi is a well known documentary filmmaker, whereas Nisha Pahuja made the Academy Award nominated documentary film To Kill a Tiger last year. Ritesh Sidhwani is one of the co-founders at Excel Entertainment.