Mainak Bhaumik shares how his heroines run the show on his sets

It's said that whenever two heroines are part of a film, catfights and complaints are common on the sets. But Mainak Bhaumik, who made Family Album with not two but three heroines -Swastika Mukherjee, Paoli and Riya Sen -doesn't seem to agree. “I beg to differ. Trust me, I felt like the damsel in distress amidst the three of them. They virtually wore the pants on the sets and were doing all the shouting, while I was busy avoiding the sun to save my skin,“ the director told CT. He also shared with us his experiences of working with each actress, and here's what he had to say:

On Swastika Mukherjee: She is like a chameleon; she can transform into anything and perform effortlessly. She also makes all my characters three dimensional and is always open to any kind of a challenge. But she tends to worry about other things like production problems and shooting schedules -essentially areas we hire other people for. Sometimes, I'd like her to just be an actor and let others do their jobs.

On Paoli: She is a well-prepared and disciplined actor who gets into the skin of the character methodically. For Family Album, she was unsure whether she could pull off a tomboyish girl in love with another girl, but finally managed to floor me with her acting. She is a perfectionist, which can be annoying at times. Sometimes, I'd like her to be a little more relaxed and go with the flow of things.

On Riya Sen: I love her sense of timing and how she puts in a lot of effort to add a new dimension to a character. She is the most accommodative actress and is extremely obedient. I had written her character of a destructive college kid with a lot of English in it, and she did it effortlessly. But she lacks confidence when it comes to her looks and needs a lot of convincing. But I wish she spoke a little more Bengali so that I could use her more often.