Vidya Balan, Ekta Kapoor selected to vote for Oscars 2022
Vidya Balan, Ekta Kapoor, her mother Shobha Kapoor and Shrihari Sathe might get a chance to vote for the Academy Awards next year. This comes after The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced their names, alongside 394 others, who've joined their Class of 2021. Every year, new members are invited to vote for Oscars. This year the invitees are from 50 countries.
It's time to announce our new members! Meet the Class of 2021. https://t.co/17gbIEXOzJ #WeAreTheAcademy
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) July 1, 2021
Of the 395 invitees, "89 are former Oscar nominees, including 25 winners," Variety reported. It further stated that the new class consists of "46% women, 39% underrepresented ethnic/racial communities and 53% international from 49 countries outside the United States." Apart from the Kapoors, Sathe and Balan, Oscar award-winners Yuh-Jung Youn, Emerald Fennell and Florian Zeller have also been invited for the panel.
Balan's name is under the actors' category, and her films Tumhari Sulu and Kahaani are mentioned along with it. In Tumhari Sulu, she played a homemaker and a radio jockey, while in Kahaani, she portrayed a "pregnant" lady who was looking for her missing husband. Both were hits and had won several awards. She's the only Indian actor to join The Academy this year.
Meanwhile, the Kapoors and Sathe join the producers' category. Ekta has been invited for her movies like Dream Girl and Once Upon A Time In Mumbai, Shobha for Udta Punjab and The Dirty Picture, and Sathe for The Sweet Requiem and It Felt Like Love. A noted short films' producer, Sathe is known for his Marathi film, Ek Hazarachi Note (1000 Rupee Note).
So happy and grateful for all the love and wishes pouring in for me and my mom. ❤️❤️ Thanks to everyone's hardwork without which this wouldn't have been possible. Heartiest congratulations to all my fellow artists too on their achievement at the @TheAcademy ✨❤️
— Ekta Kapoor (@ektarkapoor) July 2, 2021
Tenet star Robert Pattinson is also another new invitee, who will be joined by Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians), Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman), and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (The Trial of the Chicago 7). Some of the other Bollywood actors who have been invited to join the Academy in recent years were Naseeruddin Shah, Shah Rukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit-Nene, Anil Kapoor and Tabu.
