Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap, Anupam Kher join Lady Gaga, Adele as they are invited to become Oscar voters

Directors Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap and veteran actor Anupam Kher are among the 842 new members invited by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in its latest push to become more inclusive.

They would join 842 new members from 59 countries including Lady Gaga, Sterling K. Brown and Letitia Wright as the organisation strives to further diversify its ranks. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences said half of the new invitees were women and 29% were people of colour. If all accept, it will bring total membership to more than 9,000 - 32% of them female and 16% of them people of colour.

Other invitees include Adele, Claire Foy, Tom Holland and Elisabeth Moss.

Among the Indian invitees, Kher has an extensive career in both Hindi cinema as well as Hollywood films such as Hotel Mumbai and The Big Sick while Akhtar, who has been invited in the directors category, most recently directed Gully Boy.

Kashyap has been invited in the Short Films and Feature Animation category. Lunchbox writer-director Ritesh Batra is also a part of the new invitees list, so are Indian origin actor Archie Punjabi and Late Night director Nisha Ganatra.

In the Visual Effects department, Sherry Bharda of Hichki fame and Srinivas Mohan, best known for his work on 2.0 and Baahubali: The Beginning, have been invited.

In 2016, the academy launched a campaign to diversify its membership after criticism that its largely white, male and older roster of film industry professionals was a barrier to racial and gender equality among Oscar winners and nominees. The organisation had invited 928 new members in 2018 which included Indian names such as Shah Rukh Khan, Naseeruddin Shah, Tabu and Madhuri Dixit.