Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar announces Indian citizenship

Sharing a snippet of official documents, Bollywood star Akshay Kumar on Tuesday took to social media to reveal that he is now an Indian citizen.

"Dil aur citizenship, dono Hindustani. Happy Independence Day! Jai Hind!," tweeted Kumar.



Kumar had recently renounced his Canadian citizenship. He said India is everything to him and he has already applied for a change of passport. He feels bad when people say things without knowing the reason for him taking up Canadian citizenship, Akshay said in an interview in the first episode of the new season of 'Seedhi Baat' on Aajtak.

"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...," the 55-year-old star said.

Akshay's citizenship became a topic of debate after an interview with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April 2019 just before the Lok Sabha elections.

Later on, he addressed the criticism head-on. “I have now applied for the passport. I am an Indian and it hurts me that I am asked to prove that every time. My wife, my children are Indian. I pay my taxes here and my life is here,” he said.

He went on to say that it's hurtful to prove his nationality repeatedly to the world.

Kumar also explained why he obtained a Canadian passport in the first place. He revealed that at one point of time in his career, due to 14 flops in a row, he did not know what to do next. That's when Kumar's friend recommended him to come to Canada and do something there, for which he obtained a passport. However, when his 15th film fared well, the actor refused to look back and decided to stay where he was.