For those who do not know, Akshay Kumar is officially a Canadian citizen. He had applied for Canadian citizenship back in the 90s after a string of 15 flops which led him to believe that his career as an actor was over. He had a friend who was in Canada and asked him to join him there for work.
“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,” Moneycontrol quoted him saying.
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However, he had 2 films that were to be released before he left India, and those two became huge hits. This led him to get more film offers and so, he remained in India and kept working.
“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, Akshay Kumar has decided to renounce his Canadian citizenship and apply for an Indian passport.
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“I have applied to get my passport changed and once I get the renounced status from Canada,” he said.
Over the course of his career, Akshay has faced a lot of flak for his Canadian citizenship. In the world of social media, he is often referred to as “Canada Kumar”. But in 2022, he was declared the highest taxpayer of the Hindi film industry by the Income Tax department of India, reported IndiaTV.
“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 said in an interview recently.
What are your views on this decision of his?