Akshay Kumar, who previously faced criticism for holding Canadian citizenship, reclaimed his Indian citizenship last year. The actor explained that he had acquired Canadian citizenship during a challenging phase when his films were not performing well, prompting him to consider working in Canada. However, once his movies started to succeed, he decided to let go of that plan. Akshay also shared that he had applied for Indian citizenship "a long time back" during the pandemic, but received it only last year.
During his appearance at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2024, Akshay Kumar said, “I had applied for it a long time back, during the Covid pandemic time.” About his decision to get Canadian citizenship, Akshay added, “My films were not working at the time. And all people should work, I was getting some work there with a friend on mine in cargo. But then two of my movies were up for release and they became hits. Then I got a bunch of more hits and forgot about it (Canadian citizenship).”
Akshay Kumar added, "I am an Indian from my mind, from my heart and from my soul. That will always be. So I never cared about that. But about 3-4 years back, I had said on this stage that I will give it up. It took some time and last year, exactly on 14th or 15th August, I got my passport.”
Last year, on the occasion of Independence Day, Akshay Kumar shared a picture of his official government documents on X (formerly Twitter). The actor announced that he has finally got his Indian citizenship. The side note read, "Dil aur citizenship, dono Hindustani. Happy Independence Day! Jai Hind.”
In terms of work, Akshay Kumar was last seen in Singham Again as DCP Veer Sooryavanshi. The Rohit Shetty directorial also featured Kareena Kapoor, Ajay Devgn, Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone and Tiger Shroff. Up next, Akshay Kumar has several exciting projects lined up, including Sky Force, Jolly LLB 3, Housefull 5, Welcome to the Jungle and Hera Pheri 3.