Actor Shahid Kapur is down with conjunctivitis and has been advised to stay at home for some time.

Talking about his illness, the actor told IANS: "I had this eye infection for some time. I kept ignoring it, kept shooting for Abbas-Mastan's '36 China Town' because the dates were so packed-in. That aggravated my eye problem. Now it's got so bad that the doctors have forced me to be bed-ridden completely until my condition improves.

"My personal doctor has even warned the unit to not let me go anywhere near the shooting. Now I've no choice but to stay at home when I need to go out there to promote my two films 'Shikhar' and 'Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi', which open within a week of each other."

Shahid is upbeat about the releases and says: "'Shikhar' is a morality tale. What you'd expect to see next from the director (John Mathew Matthan) of 'Sarfarosh'. It pitches me against Ajay Devgan. He plays a guy ready to go to any lengths to achieve what he has to, while I'm the 'seedha-sadha bhola-bhala' ideologue."

The actor talks enthusiastically about his role in "Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi": "It goes completely with my lover-boy image - you know, soft gentle boy next door. I'm with a bunch of kids. I loved every moment of my shooting with them. That automatically adds value-incentive to the product. If the kids identify with the project, the parents naturally follow into theatres."

He is also excited about being in a film where he shares the credits with children. He says: "'Mr. India' is one of my favorite films. Though 'Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi' isn't similar in theme, I love the idea of acting with kids. I felt like one of them."

What went wrong with Shahid Kapur's role in "Deewane Hue Pagal"? Most members of the audience missed a stronger presence from the actor.

"Isn't that the biggest compliment? The fact that audiences think I'm not there as much as they wanted or expected is a compliment enough. This was my first release in nearly a year since Ananth Mahadevan's 'Yeh Dil Maange More'. Audiences seemed to expect to see more of me. I like that."

Now Shahid looks forward to two films releasing on two consecutive Fridays.

"Is that an overdose of me in the theatres? We shall soon find out," Shahid has his fingers crossed.