Alia Bhatt, Hrithik Roshan invited to be part of Oscars academy

Bollywood actors Alia Bhatt and Hrithik Roshan are among the new list of invitees to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which is 36% people of colour and 45% women.

Twitter handle of the Academy shared the list of the invitees along with a caption that read, "Say hello to our brand new class of Academy members."

"The Academy is delighted to welcome these distinguished fellow travellers in the motion picture arts and sciences. We have always embraced extraordinary talent that reflects the rich variety of our global film community, and never more so than now," Academy president David Rubin said in a statement.

Besides Alia and Hrithik, documentary filmmakers Nishtha Jain and Amit Madheshiya, designer Neeta Lulla, casting director Nandini Shrikent, visual effects supervisors Vishal Anand and Sandeep Kamal have received invitations from the Academy.

In 2016, as part of their A2020 initiative, they aimed to double the number of women and underrepresented ethnic/racial communities by 2020.

They have successfully achieved this according to their statement.

Since the club chooses their members based on sponsorships by existing members, the debate around nepotism could be put on hold in regards to Hrithik Roshan and Alia Bhatt.

Their movies including Gullyboy, Raazi, Jodha Akbar and Super 30 were used as the basis for their selection.