Actor Akshay Oberoi plays a software engineer attracted to Radhika Apte's hard-edged PR agent in director Pia Sukanya's upcoming comic thriller Bombairiya.

The film, that has parallel storylines, hidden mysteries and embarrassing secrets, is currently under production. Akshay talks about his character, Abhishek, in the film, who dons a hat, "My character is affectionately called Topiman by his mom and teased by his dad because he goes all out to help people and the hat is like his cape. He doesn't know whether the damsel in distress requires his help as Meghna (Radhika) keeps brushing him off. Abhishek doesn't get the credit he deserves for trying to bring a criminal to book, because he sometimes worsens the situation with his civic-minded intervention, by approaching things with a clean heart."

When he loses his hat on the way, one can't help but wonder if he will be able to stand up to Meghna and take on the bad guys without it. And whether he'll be able to pierce her allergic reaction to him whenever he turns up to assist her.

Akshay smiles, "I'm pretty sure I'm going to get through to her in the second schedule, which we are filming after the monsoon season," he trails off. Pleased that characters like Abhishek exist, the actor says that he knows such people in real life. "Genuine guys stand out today because it's a cynical world out there and someone like Meghna does need to be rescued - from her cynicism! And with my Topi in my hand, I'm just the guy to do that," he sums up.