MUMBAI: Hindi superstar Akshay Kumar, who faced criticism for his Canadian citizenship, got his Indian citizenship back on Independence Day yesterday. Akshay posted a copy of his citizenship certificate on X, which he captioned as 'Dil aur citizenship, dono Hindustani'(Heart and citizenship, both Indian).
Akshay's new movie OMG (Oh, My God) 2 was released last week. He got his Indian citizenship back when the movie is becoming a hit. Akshay was getting criticized severely for living in India and acting in Hindi films even after accepting Canadian citizenship.
Born in Amritsar, Punjab, Akshay Kumar took Canadian citizenship in 2011. As part of strengthening ties with India, the Canadian government had granted the citizenship immediately upon his application. With that, he lost his Indian citizenship. Akshay applied for citizenship on the advice of his friends in Canada when several films failed in his early career. Akshay says that he started trying for Indian citizenship again once he started seeing his films succeding. The family was also brought back to India.
He had applied for Indian citizenship in 2019, but the process was delayed due to Covid. Akshay Kumar's foreign citizenship was much debated after his interview with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his official residence that year. The criticism was that Modi allowed for an interview with a foreigner. An opposition also came in favour of BJP supporter Akshay. Akshay then responded that he felt disappointed when his love for the country was questioned. He said in an interview that India is everything to him, everything he has earned and achieved is from here, and when people speak without knowing anything, he gets upset.
An actor worth 100 crores
Akshay was born in 1967 and his real name is Rajeev Hari Om Bhatia. The name was changed when he came to the field of cinema. His first film was Saugandh, released in 1991, and then he became the hero of super hit films. He takes a remuneration of 100 crores for a movie now and has acted in more than 100 films. In 2009, the country honoured him with the Padma Shri. He also won the National Award for Best Actor for the movie Rustom. Akshay is married to actress Twinkle, daughter of Rajesh Khanna and Dimple Kapadia.
Dil aur citizenship, dono Hindustani.
— Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) August 15, 2023
Happy Independence Day!
Jai Hind! 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/DLH0DtbGxk