Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar has given up his Canadian nationality and acquired Indian citizenship. Sharing the news on social media, the actor posted a picture of the official papers announcing his citizenship. "Dil aur citizenship, dono Hindustani. Happy Independence Day," Kumar captioned the post.
https://twitter.com/akshaykumar/status/1691338023185809409?s=20
In the past, the 55-year-old actor has faced criticism for holding Canadian citizenship. He admitted, however, that he had applied for it and that he intended to renounce it to demonstrate his loyalty to India.
Kumar revealed his decision to renounce his Canadian passport in an interview with Aaj Tak, saying, "India is everything. 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," he said.
Kumar had previously explained that the underwhelming performance of his films in the 1990s was a driving factor in his decision to apply for Canadian citizenship. The star delivered over15 flop films during that time.
A media report in the past quoted him saying, “I thought Bhai, my films are not working and one has to work’. I went there for work. 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 just luck that they both became superhits. My friend said, ‘Go back and start working again’. 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.”
On the work front, Kumar’s latest release, OMG-2, starring Pankaj Tripathi, is doing well at the box office. The actor has appeared in over a hundred films in over 30 years of his career and has bagged several awards, including two National Film Awards and two Filmfare Awards.
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