Akshay Kumar, who recently broke silence on the citizenship controversy and said that he has Canadian citizenship, was questioned on social media about the legitimacy of winning a National Award.
On Saturday, several social media users, including National award-winning film editor and writer Apurva Asrani, questioned Akshay on being a National Award winner.
However, filmmaker Rahul Dholakia supported the actor and said that "foreign nationals can get National Awards". Dholakia has previously been a part of the National Award jury.
Other filmmakers and journalists on Twitter also clarified that as per the rules set by the government, foreign nationals are eligible for the National Awards.
Akshay Kumar has previously been honoured with the ‘Best Actor’ award for Rustom in 2016.
Akshay’s citizenship status has been called into question over the past few days with many claiming that he holds a Canadian citizenship rather than an Indian one. The debate was only amplified by his conspicuous absence from polling booths when Mumbai went to polls on 29 April despite having recently conducted a “completely non-political” interview with Prime Minister Narendra Modi a few days prior.
(With inputs from IANS)
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