Akshay Kumar opens up about 'Canadian Kumar' tag; pandemic delayed his Indian passport

Akshay Kumar is lovingly monikered as 'Khiladi Kumar', fans love him in an action-packed avatar. The actor proved his mettle as an action and producer time and again by giving movie buffs, a variety of films. Akshay has over the years, been part of not just action-oriented films, but also, comedy, rom-com, and drama and recently the actor has taken socially relevant movies to another level, where he is showing the masses the reality of society, be it Ram Setu, Toliet: Ek Prem Katha or Raksha Bandhan the actor has caught the pulse of rural India by showing various angles.

Although the actor leaves no stone unturned to entertain and educate his fans with the choice of films that he has been part of, there are sections of people who are unhappy with the actor holding Canadian citizenship, they often troll the actor mercilessly calling him 'Canadian Kumar' on social media. Akshay has time and again via his films and during media interviews that just because he holds a Canadian passport doesn't make him less Indian. His citizenship has always been a topic of discussion on social media.

Akshay Kumar as he opens up about having Canadian citizenship

On Saturday evening at the HT leadership Summit, Akshay Kumar was once again quizzed about having a Canadian passport. Setting the record straight Akshat said, "Having a Canadian passport does not mean I am any less of an Indian. I am very much Indian. I have been here for the last nine years since I got my passport. And I don't want to get into the reason of why what happened, my films were not working, blah blah blah, chalo woh theek hai."

He further went on to say, "Yes, I had said it in 2019, I applied for it. Then uske baad pandemic aagaya. Uske 2-2.5 saal sab kuch band hogaya. Then the pandemic happened and everything shut down for 2-2.5 years. My renouncement letter is here) and very soon my whole passport will be coming." Main kya karu, maine thodi pandemic laya hai (What do I do. I didn't bring the pandemic)."

When Akshay Kumar spoke about having a Canadian passport

Back in 2019, Akshay took to his Twitter handle to speak about his Canadian citizenship. He wrote, "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. While all these years, I have never needed to prove my love for India to anyone, I find it disappointing that my citizenship issue is constantly dragged into needless controversy, a matter that is personal, legal, non-political, and of no consequence to others. I want to continue contributing in my small way to the causes that I believe in and make India stronger and stronger."

Akshay also spoke about films not working at the box office

Speaking at the HT Summit he said, "What is happening, as per me, is that things have changed the audience wants something different. This is what we should think that we should sit down and try to give them that. It is our fault not the audience's fault that they are not coming. We have to give them what they want. That is what we have to rethink. We have to dismantle what we have made and start all over again. Think about what kind of cinema they would want to see. I want to start completely differently. And that is what I have started doing also. What has happened during the pandemic is that their choices have changed rapidly. There are so many other things that need to be done and not just by the actors but by the producers and theatres as well. I'll tell you; I want to bring down my prices by 30-40%. Theatres need to understand that it's recession time also. The audience has a limited amount of money to spend on entertainment. You cannot be spending so much on it. Everything has to change, And it's not just the theatres. We have to work on the cost of me, the cost of making the film. Everything needs to be addressed."

Akshay had 5 releases this year namely: Bachchhan Paandey, Samrat Prithviraj, Raksha Bandhan, and Ram Setu all released in theatres, while Cuttputlli was released on Disney+ Hotstar.