Akshay Kumar to renounce Canada passport: 'India is everything to me'

The poor box office performance of his films pushed him to apply for Canadian citizenship, Akshay Kumar said.

Superstar Akshay Kumar, who is an honorary citizen of Canada, revealed that he is going to renounce his Canadian passport. The actor has often faced flak over the issue of his citizenship in recent years.

"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…," Kumar, 55, said in an interview with Aaj Tak.

It was in 2017, while promoting his movie “Toilet: Ek Prem Katha”, that he revealed he is an honorary citizen of Canada.

Speaking about how he got a Canada passport, Akshay Kumar said it was during a lean phase in his career in the 1990s, when he delivered over 15 flops, that he applied for Canadian citizenship.

"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,” Kumar said.

"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…"

Akshay Kumar’s citizenship became a topic of debate after his "non-political" interview with Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

The issue became a talking point when the star did not come out to cast his vote, with only his wife, author and former actor Twinkle Khanna, going alone.

When he was confronted by the media, he responded with a curt “chaliye beta”, meaning “move on”.

Reporters were quick to quip that the star, despite appealing to all Indians to come out and vote, was ineligible to do the same because he holds a Canadian passport.

Kumar finally had issued a statement in 2019. “I really don't understand the unwarranted interest and negativity about my citizenship. I have never hidden or denied that I hold a Canadian passport. It is also equally true that I have not visited Canada in the last seven years. I work in India and pay all my taxes in India,” he had tweeted.