A ‘Leave India’ notice served to actor Imran Khan has turned a long-running industry fact into a talking point: many of Hindi cinema’s most familiar faces carry foreign passports. The notice follows Khan’s participation in a CJP (Cockroach Janta Party) anti-CEC protest in Mumbai last week. Khan holds American citizenship and an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card, and is not an Indian citizen.
Nine familiar faces, nine foreign passports
The citizenship round-up is a reminder of how international Bollywood’s casting bench has always been. It spans several countries and several routes into the industry.
- Imran Khan — American citizen with an OCI card.
- Alia Bhatt — British citizenship through her mother Soni Razdan; born and raised in Mumbai.
- Katrina Kaif — British citizen born in Hong Kong; she has also built the ₹400 crore beauty brand Kay Beauty.
- Diljit Dosanjh — a US citizen since 2022; reports say he has used an American passport since 1 September 2022.
- Nora Fatehi — Canadian, born and raised in Toronto to Moroccan parents.
- Jacqueline Fernandez — Sri Lankan citizen.
- Kalki Koechlin — French citizen, born in Puducherry to French parents.
- Nargis Fakhri — American citizen.
- Sunny Leone — Canadian and American citizen; born Karenjit Kaur Vohra in Canada.
This is not a new phenomenon. For years, some stars have been born elsewhere or inherited citizenship through a parent while building careers in Mumbai. Alia Bhatt, for instance, was born and brought up in Mumbai, but holds British citizenship through her mother Soni Razdan, who was born in Birmingham.
What changes when citizenship enters the news
Day-to-day, a foreign passport rarely shows up on screen. It matters when legal notices, voting rights, travel or residency rules come into play — exactly as Imran Khan’s ‘Leave India’ notice illustrates. For fans, the distinction between Indian citizen, OCI holder and foreign national is not about screen presence; it is about the legal shell around that presence.
Bollywood has seen this conversation before. Akshay Kumar, one of the industry’s most bankable stars, held Canadian citizenship until he officially regained Indian citizenship on India’s Independence Day, 15 August 2023.
What to watch next
The detail to track is whether the notice changes Imran Khan’s ability to stay or work in India, and how he responds. The broader story for Hindi cinema is unchanged: Indian screen culture has long been shaped by global passports.
Source: Filmibeat