Actor Akshay Kumar he was often criticized as the “Canadian Kumar” by social media trolls for his Canadian citizenship. In 2019, during the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, Akshay promised to apply for an Indian passport soon. Three years later, he shared an update.

Hindustan Times Editor-in-Chief Entertainment & Lifestyle Sonal Kalra asked Akshay about his Indian citizenship process on the last day of the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2019. He said he knew he was going to ask him about it. “Having a Canadian passport does not make me any less Indian. I am very Indian. I have been here since the last nine years when I got my passport. And I don’t want to deal with why, what happened, my films didn’t work, blah blah blah, chalo woh theek hai,”

“Yes, I said it in 2019, I asked for it. Then uske baad pandemic aagaya. Uske 2-2.5 saal sab kuch band hogaya. Surrender letter ka abhi mera aagaya hai (Then the pandemic happened and everything stopped for 2-2.5 years. My surrender letter is here) and my whole passport will come very soon.” When Sonal said that she has in intending to do, he said, “Main kya karu, maine thodi pandemic laya hai (What shall I do. I did not bring about the pandemic).”

Another criticism that Akshay has faced is how people often troll him for taking up too many projects in a year. He said he didn’t understand why it was a problem at all. “I make four films a year. Yes I will do it. I do commercials, sure. I work, I don’t steal from anyone. I do not understand it. People ask me why do you get up early? But the morning is for waking up, right? I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong. I will work. I will give 50 days if needed and 90 days if needed,” he said.