In what is a huge increase from the 322 invitations that were sent out in 2015 and the 774 sent out in 2017, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences issued 928 invitations to members from 59 countries this year.

In keeping with its efforts to diversify the pool of voting members, the invitations sent out were an attempt to include more women, global filmmakers and people of colour. Shah Rukh Khan, Ali Fazal and Anil Kapoor are among those in Bollywood who have been invited to join the Academy as members in the list.

Speaking about it, Ali said: “It’s an absolutely absolute honour for me to have been accepted into the Academy #iamacademy now. To one more step towards global cinema, towards one world, I am so happy the academy has diversified extensively over the past few years. And to include me in that prestigious list is in itself an honour for me and my country. I hope I serve well in the forthcoming years of entertainment. There are some heavy names out there on the list so am happy to share stage with them on this (sic)”.

Yahoo! News reports that 92 per cent of the people on the Academy’s list of voting members were white in 2016 and 75 per cent of them were men.