Koel Mallick

First crush: Shekhar from Parineeta.

First date: With Rane (Nispal Singh, husband). I was shooting for Hero in Raichak, and one day Rane asked me out for lunch. We went to a restaurant on Park Street the next day.

First day in front of the camera: I used to be extremely shy. Cut to the sets of my first film (Nater Guru), and more or less the entire industry was present. It was the day of the mahurat, and in the make-up room, I was just thinking about my scene. I knew my co-actor was there, my director was there and the camera was there. Nothing bothered me. Ma and Baba (Ranjit Mallick) were tense, but I was very focused. It was a big, huge lavish set. I had to deliver my lines while taking the stairs. And I enjoyed it, it was a new thing for me.

First big buy: My Mercedes.

First pay cheque: I got sari for Ma Durga for the Pujas, sari for my mother and kurta pyjama for Baba.

Swastika Mukherjee

First crush: A guy who stayed in our building  and perfectly fitted the Mills & Boon bracket of Tall, Dark and Handsome. Not only me, all the girls of our building were after him.

First date: Well, I never went out on a date. I just got married and that doesn’t count. I am waiting to go out on a date. I’ll make that happen in 2018.

First day in front of the camera: When I shot for Hemanter Pakhi, directed by Urmi Chakraborty, starring my father (Santu Mukherjee) and Tanusree Shankar. All I remember is that I was s***ting in my pants. Also I didn’t understand at all how to look at a chair and give a close-up shot thinking someone is sitting there.

First solo travel: When I went to Toronto to attend the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) for my film Janala by Buddhadeb Dasgupta.

First big buy: I bought a fridge for Mani (daughter) so that she could stock her chocolates.

First pay cheque: Was for Hemanter Pakhi, I got a cheque for Rs 700, and then never cashed it.

Gaurav Chakrabarty

First crush: Madhuri Dixit. For some weird reason, I used to watch the song Ek do teen every day after returning from school.

First date: I seem to have absolutely no memory of it.

First day in front of the camera: Sometime in 1987. I appeared on a Doordarshan TV series made by Jochhon Dastidar called Shei Shomoy as “young Chandranath”.

First solo travel: Azad Hind Express. Calcutta-Pune. I was travelling to the Film and Television Institute, Pune.

First big buy: My first smartphone. The Samsung Galaxy S2. Spent Rs 33,000 of some of my first hard-earned money on it.

First pay cheque: Raja Dasgupta gifted me a cricket bat for appearing in a telefilm directed by him in the early ’90s. Was the best first salary I could dream to have.

Tota Roy Choudhury

First crush: Puravi Lama, class teacher of Class VA. More than being beautiful, she was kind. Her remark on my report card sums up my life motto: a disciplined and hardworking student.

First date: Picked up Sharmili — then girlfriend and now wife — from her college and went to Scoop near Prinsep Ghat. We sat on the upper floor overlooking the Ganga, having orange slush. From there we went to New Empire to watch Sleepless in Seattle, and finally dropped her near her college gate.

First day in front of the camera: Duronto Prem. I was in bandages and was to explain what happened. Half a page of dialogue. Like a fool I said yes when Prabhatda (Roy) asked me whether I could do it in a single shot. I immediately started sweating! I rehearsed like mad and got it right in the first take itself. Some unit members clapped and that’s how I immediately got hooked.

First solo travel: Actually my friend was accompanying me. We were 17+ and had this mad desire to see Kashmir. It took all my latent acting prowess to get permission (and funds) from my parents. We went to Srinagar, Sonmarg, Gulmarg, Pahalgam. It was achingly beautiful and an experience that I still cherish.

First big buy: In my late 20s, quite a bit of work came my way and I wanted to save time on my daily commute so I bought this cherry- coloured Santro car. I took my mother for a ride and she was so proud and happy.

First pay cheque: Rs 5,000, for my first film Duronto Prem. Donated 20 per cent  to Missionaries of Charity. Bought mishti for Ma, Baba, Bhai and members of my joint family. With the rest I bought costumes and shoes for the film and set aside taxi fare for shoot days, since it was all inclusive.

Mainak Bhaumik

First crush: Danica McKellar in Wonder Years. She was the perfect girl-next-door.

First date: In 1998, and the date didn’t go as planned. I got very nervous. Both of us got shy and nobody knew what to do and say. It didn’t work out.

First shot: It was a nightmare. I was not a social person, and there were at least 100 people on the first day of shooting Aamra. I did not know half of what they were doing. It was stressful dealing with so many people, and I realised that I also have this social side in me, where I’ll be nice to everyone. Too many people were talking to me. It was traumatising.

First solo travel: When I was nine. My mom had flown down to Calcutta with my brother. I was flying to Calcutta for my summer holidays by KLM. And I had to wear this accompanied minor tag. I thought it was going to be scary, but it was amazing because they give you a lot of goodies.

First pay cheque: I was 17, and I was working for a movie theatre. I got a job as an usher. I had to check the ticket and let people in. For a month, I saved that money and made a short film on patachitra.