Mumtaz, Shaheb and Ridhima in the Swissotel pool. Picture: Rashbehari Das

Let’s begin with what each of you play in Half Serious (directed by Utsav Mukherjee, releases on Friday)...

Shaheb: (Looking at Mumtaz and Ridhima) You guys start first.

Ridhima: No, ladies first! (Pointing at Shaheb)

Shaheb: Okay! I play Arko. He is liberal and modern. He loves Tuli (Ridhima) but his parents disapprove of her. Tania (Mumtaz) is also in love with him, so there’s a love triangle. In the first half, the women are dominated and in the second half, the men are dominated.

Ridhima: Well, Shaheb has already spoken so much. I feel like I’m characterless! I play Tuli who is unfortunately paired with Shaheb!

Mumtaz: That is where the director went wrong!

Why?

Mumtaz: Ridhima and I should have been a pair! That’s what makes Shaheb angry because though he is paired with Ridhima, she bonds more with me. Our friendship is deep!

Shaheb, you didn’t get much attention from the ladies it seems...

Shaheb: I got enough attention from my director!

Ridhima: Actually whenever Mumtaz and I would bitch, he would participate. So we made him a part of our bitches’ club. Shaheb was the heroine of the film!

Shaheb: Yeah, when there are two manly figures like Mumtaz and Ridhima around, I’m obviously supposed to feel like a heroine. I have been bullied a lot by them!

Ridhima: See, whenever Shaheb does a movie he always tries to patao the girls but that didn’t happen here, so now he doesn’t have any other option but to feel sad.

Shaheb: Ridhima came with this preconceived notion that girls should beware of Shaheb. From the first day she was like, ‘Keep a distance, dude!’ But we had to do a lot of intimate scenes and there she actually made me feel at ease!

Ridhima: We were abusing each other during the kissing scene! (Laughs) Because if Shaheb gets the opportunity, he will touch you!

Shaheb: See, I tend to get into the character of the film... (laughs) and I lose my character!

Mumtaz, what is your character like?

Mumtaz: Tania is desperate to get Arko’s attention.

Ridhima: Yes, you are the kabab mein haddi!

Shaheb: The bottomline is Mumtaz becomes the Ranjeet of Indian cinema!

Have you guys ever been a kabab mein haddi in real life?

Mumtaz: I am sure a lot of people think of me as kabab mein haddi!

Shaheb: You’ve got two hundred and six bones in your body anyway!

Ridhima: I have always been the kabab.

Shaheb: I could never become the boneless chicken. Chirokaal e haddi (always the bone)!

Ridhima: Actually Shaheb haddi hoye dhokey aar kabab hoye beroy!

Shaheb: Good one! But in case of Ridhima and her boyfriend (Gaurav Chakrabarty), I couldn’t become either the kabab or the haddi. I just marinated and left!

Your film is a love triangle. What would you do if your partner fell for someone else?

Shaheb: I would kill both!

Ridhima: I have never faced such a thing.

Mumtaz: I would feel horrible.

What’s the best way to woo a girl/boy?

Shaheb: I would take her to a romantic dinner.

Mumtaz: Shaheb has a full book of theories on how to woo a girl.

Ridhima: I’ll bake a souffle for him. And Mumtaz can try magic on her guy!

Mumtaz: When it comes to guys, no magic works. All guys are jerks.

How often do you fall in love?

Mumtaz and Ridhima: Shaheb? Every moment. Dhum, dhaam, dhush!

Shaheb: Not very often. My last relationship was for eight years, so...

All three of you hit the night spots. What’s the best pick-up line you’ve heard?

Ridhima: My friend’s ex-boyfriend told me, ‘You are really cute!’ I gave him a piece of my mind.

Shaheb: Sadly in Calcutta, people are very poor with pick-up lines. Those who try, fail miserably. I’ve heard guys saying to girls, ‘Is your father a terrorist? Because you’re a bomb’! My favourite is, ‘Do you believe in first love or should I walk by again?!’