As is custom, the inauguration ceremony for the 49th edition of Oasis started off like your typical Indian Railways Train – delayed, rather stuffy, and with an electricity generator that was messing about with the lighting. But once it gathered a reasonable amount of momentum, it was smooth sailing. It started off with a Music Club performance, a two-part music programme, with the first part being a rendition of a Coke Studio song, “Cheene Re Mora Chain”, and the second being a mixed medley of “Twenty One Pilots” songs.
Capitalizing on the enthusiasm of the crowd, the Oasis 2018 After-Movie was played immediately after the curtains were closed, with several clips from Oasis 2018 that captured the essence of the previous edition of the fest. Several other videos, including the Curtain Raiser, event trailers, and sponsor messages were played in quick succession immediately after.
The compère then proceeded to explain the ethos of the fest and the theme for this year, describing Oasis as where ‘the boundary between light and dark will blur,’ and as a place where ‘miracles arise’. The theme for this year, “Chapter 49: Neon-Noir” is supposed to indicate the ‘paradoxes and the contrasts’ that Oasis showcases, ‘the Neon and the Noir’. Welcoming the audience to Oasis 2019, the compère drew their attention to the structures and artwork placed outside the auditorium – the Spiderman installation, the Constantine panel, and The Joker panel. The artwork inside the auditorium was then placed under the lime-light, with the compère describing the themes and concepts being represented by the four pieces of artwork placed on the walls of the auditorium – The Spartan, The Groot, The Winged Woman, and The Humanoid. The backdrop featuring Rorschach however took centre-stage both literally and figuratively, towering over the crowd and the people on stage.
The title sponsors for Oasis 2019, Cisco, were then introduced, with Mr. Ritesh Kapahi, BITS alumnus and Senior Director of Cisco taking the stage, with the University Recruiting Lead of Cisco India, Ms. Samta Katiyar, and the Brand Leader of Cisco (India and SAARC countries), Ms. Shahnaz Imam. The Senior Director then gave a very invigorating and energizing speech where he mentioned that he was proud to be here, 27 years after his first ever Oasis in 1992. As a representative from Cisco, he was also proud to talk about Cisco’s vision of touching and improving one billion lives by 2020, and 50 million lives in India by 2025. He then introduced the “Global Problem Solver 2020 Challenge: for India Impact”, a Cisco programme to find innovators and problem solvers to solve real-world issues specific to India. The launch of this programme was highlighted by the demonstration of a drone, that was somehow lacking the energy and power the director’s speech had. He then proceeded to announce the extra fifty-thousand-dollar prize that has been added to the India-specific programme, making the total first prize a grand one of a hundred thousand dollars. He then described himself as a ‘Bollywood buff’ and spoke about Pokhran, the Indian nuclear test. Quoting a line from “Zindagi na milegi dobara”, and explaining to the audience that ‘we only die once, but we live every single day,’ he ended his speech by urging the audience to make every moment of their lives impactful. The compère then announced that there were 5 golden tickets randomly hidden under the seats in the auditorium, and that the lucky audience members who had received them would be able to collect prizes from the Cisco booth at M-Lawns the next day.
The Chief guest, Mr. Madhur Bhandarkar then arrived to much fanfare, and took his seat at the front row of the audience. The curtains closed, and then opened to reveal ten thrones on the stage. With the traditional roasts written by their own department members, the six heads of the StuCCA departments were called on stage one after the other, followed by the Students’ Union General Secretary and the President. The General Secretary and the President then respectively escorted the Director of BITS Pilani, and the Chief guest on stage. The ceremonial lighting of the lamp then took place, a time honoured tradition that symbolizes the dispelling of the dark clouds of ignorance by the rays of knowledge.
The Director then began his speech about the 49th chapter of Oasis by telling the crowd to get excited for next year, when the 50th chapter of Oasis is scheduled. After warmly welcoming the audience for both fests, he then provided general advice and words of caution to both students of BITS and external participants to be sensible and abide by the rules. He then wished everyone the best of luck for the fest ahead, and concluded his speech.
After a glowing introduction, the Chief Guest took the podium and greeted the audience. He thanked the audience for watching good cinema, and requested them to keep doing so, and says that it is the encouragement he gets from the public that helps him make ‘real, topical, issue-based films’ that strike at problems deeply ingrained in society. On taking his seat on stage, he answered several questions that were selected from the audience, including ones on how he creates stories around the struggles of women, and how he makes relevant cinema. He ended by saying that film makers get their encouragement entirely from the audience and the youth, and that the voice of the youth is what he listens to when figuring out what to make his movies about.
After the vote of thanks by the General Secretary, the rest of the programme got underway. Alternating performances by the Dance Club and the Mime Club took place. The Dance Club presented two thematic sets, one being philosophical in nature, speaking about the vices people have, and the impact of money. In a brief case of “until the fire-nation attacked”, a sword went flying off the stage and laid waste to the poor souls in the Lights booth. The mime club presented their usual video performances, and had three on-stage sets, one being a video-integrated performance, which had members performing with LED-covered suits in a pitch-black auditorium, showcasing levels from Contra and Mario. Their other performances were a cricket based skit on the exam-life of the average BITS student, and one on the life of a fictional first year on campus and the experiences he has. The curtains closed for one last time, and the auditorium house lights were turned on. Oasis had been kicked off to a good start, with the participants and students leaving the auditorium, walking out onto a campus that had been transformed over the span of a few months into a Neon-Noir Oasis in the desert.