The forty-eighth edition of Oasis began with the Inauguration Ceremony, held in the Main Auditorium last evening. The ceremony began after an expected, but surprisingly short delay of twenty minutes, with performances by Music Club and Gurukul. They played a range of semi-classical and rock songs which set the tone for the rest of the evening. The Oasis 2018 preview video followed, and showcased shorts from Abhishek Upmanyu’s and Jaspreet Singh’s previous stand-up acts, leaving the audience excited about N2O, the comedy Prof Show. DVM’s curtain raiser video featured an enchanting animation of the campus buildings rising from the depths of a desert. The audience was left quite amused.

The artistic panels on the auditorium walls were introduced next. Among them was the enormous stage backdrop — a skull wearing ornaments which signifies the transient nature of embellishment. ‘Humanity is the strongest of all cultures, no matter how adorned,’ remarked the compere. Abhishek Chaubey, the Chief Guest, made his entrance amidst a roaring crowd to the music of his highly acclaimed movie Udta Punjab.

The StuCCAns were introduced with their customary light roasts and the Director, Prof. A.K Sarkar wished everyone a fruitful and fun ninety-six hours. Prof. Souvik Bhattacharya, the Vice Chancellor, asked everyone to enjoy, but stay within their limits; “I believe that the fest is a collaboration of youth and creative energy, but everyone needs to remember not to cross the line.” The President of the Students’ Union, Satyansh Rai, presented the Vote of Thanks, profusely thanking faculty, sponsors, departments and every other person or entity that had helped in setting up the mammoth fest.

After a stellar introduction, the Chief Guest briefly took to the lectern and mentioned that he was once a participant at Oasis from Delhi University, back in 1996. “The festival is entirely different, the campus is entirely different, and there are a lot of new faces to be seen. But the immense enthusiasm and spirit I see is still the same,” he said. On that note, he declared Oasis 2018 open. Soon after, it was made clear, more times than necessary, that entry to all Prof Shows will be through QR code scanning, available on the official Oasis app on Google Play Store and for the first time ever, on Apple App Store as well.

The Mime Club and the Dance Club then performed alternatingly. The first play, which drew a parallel between a disease and a low CGPA, had cleverly placed puns and jokes that a BITSian would find quite relatable. The Dance Club entertained the crowd with some enthralling moves to an upbeat song, followed by a retro Bollywood number. The second play by the Mime Club consisted of Bollywood actors from different movies placed in BITSian situations. While it received scattered laughter, the audience didn’t seem to enjoy it as much as the first.

The much awaited ‘Oasis Talk’ was next in line, a tete-a-tete with director Abhishek Chaubey. Earlier, a form had been circulated among the populace for questions to ask the chief guest. Some of them were posed to Chaubey and to one, he mentioned that he incorporates vulgarity in his films to showcase the real nature of a colloquial conversation in today’s society, rather than a formal, sugar-coated dialogue that most Bollywood movies show.

The floor was then opened to the audience to ask director any questions. He was asked thought-provoking questions in areas of filmmaking, creativity and about the perception of the audience in Bollywood. “Don’t take cinema too seriously, just have fun while you watch the movie,” said Chaubey said once. He ended the session with a short note about his upcoming Hindi movie ‘Sonchiraiya’ which literally translates to the ‘Golden Bird’. Chaubey described it as an action film centred around a little girl, making it sound quite unique.

A parody of Lagaan by the Mime Club, in the perspective of BITSian placements, was shown towards the end. The Dance Club also had further performances including a unique take on the Gujarati ‘Garba’, which quite amused the audience. The Mime Club ended the evening on a high with an extremely entertaining, Glow-In-The-Dark act. If anything, the talent on display in the Inauguration Ceremony was an exciting indicator of what’s yet to come.