Akshay on why he became a Canadian citizen

Akshay Kumar, who recently renounced his

Canadian citizenship

and accepted

Indian citizenship

, spoke about why he became a citizen of Canada in the first place.
In an interview with ANI, Akshay said, "I became a Canadian because my films were not doing well at one time and I gave 13 to 14 flop films. At that time, my friend used to live in Canada and he said you come here and we will work on something.

My friend had offered me that we would do cargo business together. I said okay my films are also not going well and a person has to work, no matter where he is. When I started living in Toronto, I got a Canadian passport. In between that, two films were left for release. After the two movies got released it became a big superhit. I told him that I was going back. Then I got more films and reached here today. But I never thought people got a hold of it, it was just a travel document. I just pay my taxes, and I am the highest taxpayer."

Talking about receiving Indian citizenship, Akshay added, "For 9 to 10 years I didn't go there. It's a very nice place and one of my best friends is there. I decided that I should take my citizenship. It was just a coincidence that I had received a letter on 15th August that I had got citizenship. But it is not just a passport, it is your mind, it is your heart, it's your soul that has to be Indian. What is the point if I do have an Indian passport but my soul, mind and heart are not Indian?"

Sharing the news of officially becoming the citizen of India, Akshay took to his social media handles and wrote, 'Dil aur citizenship, dono Hindustani (Heart and citizenship, both Indian). Happy Independence Day! Jai Hind.'
In 2019, Akshay faced a lot of criticism on social media because he had Canadian citizenship. In response to that, he posted a message on his official social media account. In his post, he expressed that he didn't understand why there was so much negativity about his Canadian citizenship.