Akshay Kumar gets Indian citizenship, says 'dil aur citizenship, dono Hindustani'

Actor Akshay Kumar has revealed that he is finally an Indian citizen after being granted the Indian citizenship. The actor had an honorary citizenship of Canada and had recently revealed that he was renouncing  his Canadian passport.

On Tuesday, Akshay took to X (formerly Twitter) to announce the news. "Dil aur citizenship, dono Hindustani. Happy Independence Day! Jai Hind!" 

The actor, who is currently riding high on the success of 'OMG 2', had faced constant criticism about his Canadian citizenship, which he received in the 90s. In an early interview, Akshay had opened up about how he had applied for the citizenship when his movies weren't working well.

" 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..." 

He added that he had felt bad when people say things without knowing the reason for him taking up 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...," the 55-year-old star said.

Akshay claimed he applied for a citizenship in 2019 for an Indian passport but the pandemic delayed his plans.