'I am not Shah Rukh, who charms people'

Akshaye Khanna is quite the elusive actor, who shows up only when his films are up for release. The actor puts down his behaviour to 'ultra shyness.'

He talks to Nithya Ramani about his film, Short Kut: The Con Is On, costarring Arshad Warsi and Amrita Rao. He also tells us why he thinks he did not make it to the A-list category in spite of being in the film industry for a little more than a decade.

What is Short Kut about?

It is about two characters -- a struggling actor, who wants to be a star and a struggling writer, who wants to become a great director. It is how these two achieve their goals. They have been friends for long but cannot stand each other.

I play Shekar and Arshad plays Raju. He steals my script and becomes a superstar. But I continue my struggle to make my way on top. There is a romantic track between Shekar and Mansi (Amrita Rao).

He sometimes gets tempted to take shortcuts but believes that there are no shortcuts in life.

It's a fun, entertaining film, with excellent characterizations.

Shortkut wrapped in the Thai Ocean!

While the title track of Shortkut is creating waves, its second track, Pal Pal has been tickling everyone's funnybones thanks to Arshad Warsi's berserk dance moves.

The Pal Pal song shot in picturesque Bangkok sees the babe-licious Amrita Rao grooving on a yacht. What most people don't know is that while the song was being shot the yacht lost its direction and the entire crew along with choreographer Bosco were lost in the ocean! To add to their misery, it started raining. To contain the panic Arshad gathered everyone and started dancing on the yacht and in minutes, from a stranded ship, it turned into a film wrap party for the entire crew!

The incident is Amrita's favourite memory from the film: "The atmosphere was transformed! One moment we were all seriously shooting and the next we were dancing on board. It was a perfect finish to our schedule in Bangkok and I couldn't have asked for a better wrap experience!" she said smiling.