Akshay Kumar Applies For Indian Passport; Why Had He Taken Canadian Citizenship?

New Delhi: Akshay Kumar doesn’t like people talking negatively about his Canadian citizenship without knowing the background.

Without ever hiding or denying that he has a Canadian passport, ‘Khiladi’ Kumar has been one of the highest tax-payers in India. That, however, didn’t prevent netizens from trolling him from time to time.

All this will change soon as Akshay has decided to renounce his Canadian citizenship and has already applied for an Indian passport.

“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,” Akshay said in an interview in ‘Seedhi Baat’ on Aaj Tak.

The 55-year-old star went on to explain why he had taken up Canadian citizenship.

Known for superhit films like ‘Hera Pheri’, ‘Namastey London’, ‘Toilet: Ek Prem Katha’ and ‘Padman’, Akshay didn’t have a smooth ride in Bollywood. He had a lean phase when 15 of his movies flops in the 1990s. That was when he applied for Canadian citizenship.

“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 told me to go there. I applied and got in,” Akshay recalled.

“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… once I get the renounced status from Canada,” Akshay informed.

Akshay’s citizenship was talked about widely after an interview with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April 2019, just before the Lok Sabha elections.