Sharmila Tagore, Deepa Mehta, Freida Pinto in Oscar’s Class of 2017

Legendary Indian actress Sharmila Tagore, Slumdog Millionaire star Freida Pinto and director Deepa Mehta, known for Fire and Midnight’s Children, are among the Indian-origin film personalities who have been invited by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to be its members in an effort to boost diversity.

After the #OscarsSo-White controversy erupted last year because no actors of colour had been nominated for the Oscars for the second year in a row, the Academy has extended membership invitations to 683 distinguished filmmakers and artists, including 283 international members from 59 countries representing “the best in our global film community and who have made a lasting impact on movie fans everywhere”. The Academy said 46 per cent of this year’s invitees are women, and 41 per cent minorities.

British filmmaker of Indian-origin Asif Kapadia, who won the best documentary feature at this year’s Academy Awards for his work on jazz singer Amy Winehouse, also features in this year’s class of new members. The other notable people of Indian-origin in the class of 2016 are Pixar animator Sanjay Bakshi, producer Anish Savjani and animator Sanjay Patel.