The Oscars Invite Ram Charan, Jr NTR!

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently announced its membership invitations, and film celebrities Ram Charan, Jr NTR, Mani Ratnam, Karan Johar, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Chandrabose and M M Keeravaani have been invited to be members.

RRR Art Director Sabu Cyril and Cinematographer K K Senthil Kumar have been invited too.

'The Academy is proud to welcome these artists and professionals into our membership,' Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang said in a statement, Variety reported.

'They represent extraordinary global talent across cinematic disciplines and have made a vital impact on the arts and sciences of motion pictures and on movie fans worldwide.'

Austin Butler, Ke Huy Quan, Keke Palmer and Taylor Swift are among the 398 artists and executives invited to join the membership of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.

If this year's invitees accept membership, it will bring the total number of overall Academy members to 10,817 (up from 10,665 last year), with 9,375 eligible to vote (a decrease from 9,665 due to deaths, retirements and moving to emeritus status) for the 96th Oscars, set to take place on March 10, 2024.

The 2023 class is 40 per cent women, 34 per cent belong to underrepresented ethnic/racial communities and 52 per cent hail from 51 countries and territories outside the United States.

Other interesting statistics about this invitee class are four branches invited more women than men to join -- casting directors, costume designers, makeup artists and hairstylists and marketing and public relations. The Actors and Directors branches had most of their candidates hail from under-represented ethnic and racial communities.

This year's slate of awards contenders will have massive star power and legendary filmmakers in the mix such as Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon with Leonardo DiCaprio and Denis Villeneuve's Dune Part Two with Zendaya and Timothee Chalamet.