Main Quad experiences PAGAL DIL
From June 11, 2006:
First, we revealed surveillance photos of a giant robot terrorizing Campustown. Today, we tease you with a covert group shot of this mischievous crew taken just a few blocks away. Who is the ukelele-toting jester with the giggling entourage, and why are they all here on the Main Quad? Answers most certainly follow!
Summertime fun for the college-age, C-U born-and-bred minds behind Mongoose Productions includes making art, so when co-founders Sam Ambler (above right, with Morgan Reisman) and Gabrielle Reisman returned home, they recruited family, friends, and welcome strangers to help make the short film PAGAL DIL.
PAGAL DIL, or “Crazy Love,” condenses the charming qualities of a Bollywood musical extravaganza into less than 10 minutes and sets the activity before several local backdrops, such as Foellinger Auditorium on the University of Illinois Main Quad.
On this day’s shooting, Mongoose Productions attracted dozens of extras to play the background dancers in the climax. While Ambler concentrated on the composition and shooting of each sequence, Reisman walked everyone through the choreography.
In PAGAL DIL, a young woman played by Tonie Sadler (left) and a young man played by Ernie Springer (right) fall in love from a distance, compromised by an interloping “evil twin” also played by Springer. Through dance and song (and ukelele interludes provided by the Duke of Uke, Dave King), all is set right by the end credits.
Since 2003, Ambler and Reisman have presented their output for public consumption as the Filmic Dependency Film Festival or Mongoose Fest, during which PAGAL DIL premiered this past Saturday (see item: 11/22/06) at the Urbana Independent Media Center.
Next for Mongoose Productions will be another short called KOMBAL, a Bollywood-style detective story possibly influenced by one of Reisman’s all-time favorite movies, DON (1978). Until then, you can sneak a peek at PAGAL DIL on their MySpace page…
…and otherwise marvel at the fire-juggler right here.
– Jason Pankoke
All PAGAL DIL photos by JaPan