With the advent of the 50th edition of Oasis, the Oasis English Press (OEP) interacted with Hriday Maheshwari, the coordinator of the Hindi Drama Club (HDC).
During Oasis, the HDC will be participating in the Stage Play competition being organised by the Department of Theatre (DoT). The club will also be conducting a theatre workshop as part of the Film Festival being organised by the Film Making Club (FMaC).
Hriday confessed that he could not say that new performances were better than earlier ones, stating that to say otherwise would be an injustice to the senior members of the club. To overcome this, practice sessions last 3–4 hours every day, starting a month before Oasis. He laid emphasis on this regime, realising his responsibility for running the events smoothly.
While explaining what acting meant to him, he said, ‘Art is made to express emotion, it’s made for when your emotions are so strong that they carry you away from what you know and feel usually, so that you need something more to capture what you experience than mere analysis and thought.’
When asked to address BITSians, he appealed to them to, ‘keep this culture of art alive.’ Hriday was concerned that the existing enthusiasm for art and culture is now fading. Moreover, he believed that the practice of shirking commitment is pervasive. When asked to explain the reason behind it, he opined, ‘no one wants the stress and work required to produce great art.’
While closing the interview, Hriday hoped to keep Hindi culture and theatre alive and remarked that ‘some things are best expressed in Hindi.’