Akshay Kumar finally becomes Indian citizen on Independence Day, says 'Dil aur citizenship, dono Hindustani'

Akshay Kumar. Pic/Instagram

Akshay Kumar is now an official citizen of India, the actor announced on Independence Day. He had a Canadian citizenship so far, which subjected the actor to a lot of criticism so far. He renounced his Canadian citizenship and had applied for an Indian passport before the pandemic. Today, on the occasion of Independence Day 2023, the superstar shared a picture of the document on Instagram, that was proof that he is officially an Indian citizen now.

Sharing the picture on Instagram, Akshay wrote, "Dil aur citizenship, dono Hindustani. Happy Independence Day! Jai Hind! 🇮🇳"

Akshay spoke about his Canadian citizenship in multiple interviews. Earlier this year, he said in an interview with Hindustan Times, "Yes, I had said it in 2019, I applied for it. Then uske baad pandemic aagaya. Uske 2-2.5 saal sab kuch band hogaya. Renounce ka abhi mera letter aagaya hai (Then the pandemic happened and everything shut down for 2-2.5 years. My renounce letter is here) and very soon my whole passport will be coming."

In an interview with AajTak, he opened up about the decision to renounce his Canadian citizenship. "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...," he shared.

The superstar further revealed the reason behind applying for Canadian citizenship. He that when his films didn't work, he thought of going to Canada and staying with a friend. Akshay said, "I thought that '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 superhit. My friend said, 'go back, 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 and once I get the renounced status from Canada..."

Workwise, Akshay's recently released film OMG 2 is performing well at the box office. His lineup includes Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, the remake of Soorarai Pottru, The Great Indian Rescue and Vedat Marathe Veer Daudle Saat.