Akshay Kumar gets Indian citizenship, renounces Canadian passport

Having drawn flak over his Canadian citizenship in the past, Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar took to Twitter on Tuesday to announce that he has been granted Indian citizenship on the 77th Independence Day of the country.

Akshay has officially renounced his Canadian passport and reclaimed his Indian citizenship. The actor shared a photo of the papers of his Indian citizenship on the social media platform, expressing his joy. “Dil aur citizenship, dono Hindustani. Happy Independence Day! Jai Hind!," Akshay Kumar said on X, formerly known as Twitter, sharing the registration document.

The actor had in the past said he felt disappointed when people questioned his “love for the country”. “India is everything to me... Whatever I have earned, whatever I have gained is from here. And I’m fortunate that I get a chance to give back. You feel bad when people say things without knowing anything...,” Kumar had said in an interview with a news channel.

The OMG2 actor had applied for the Indian citizenship in 2019. However, the process had been delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic. His Canadian citizenship became a topic of debate after he interviewed Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “I never thought that I should get this passport changed but now yes, I have applied to get my passport changed and once I get the renounced status from Canada....” he had said. On work front, Akshay Kumar’s OMG2, which also stars Pankaj Tripathi and Yami Gautam, released in theatres last week.

Earlier, Akshay spoke about a bad phase in his career when he delivered more than 15 flops. This was in the 1990s. The poor box office performance of his films forced him to apply for Canadian citizenship, the actor said. He said his films were not working and was looking for opportunities elsewhere.

“My friend was in Canada and he said, ‘Come here’. I applied and I got in. I had just two films left for release and it is sheer luck that both of them became huge hits. I got some more films and I kept getting more work. I forgot that I had the passport. I never thought that I should get this passport changed but now yes, I have applied to get my passport changed,” he added.