What began in 1996 with a group of people trying to spread humour in the campus is now a team dedicated to cinematography, acting, and writing – with comedy at its heart. During the semester the Mime Club is busy preparing for stage acts and shooting videos that are uploaded online. During fests, the club takes to the stage and delivers live performances.
After considerable difficulty, the Oasis English Press managed to get a hold of Apoorv – the club’s coordinator. This year, they have four regular stage acts and a special ultraviolet show planned. The latter has performers who will wear glowing costumes during their acts. Apoorv is confident that the hard work that the club has put in to include several BITSian puns and lingo will pay off on stage. All their stage acts will take place during the inauguration ceremony.
Off stage, in addition to Pun Wars, a battle of wordplay and spontaneous creativity, the Mime Club is organizing two new events this year – the Improv Challenge and The BITS Pilani Open Mic. The Improv Challenge involves fast paced ‘improv games’ (games that help one develop an instinctive response, spontaneity and confidence), funny scenes and songs while The BITS Pilani Open Mic is an event dedicated to stand-up comedy, where participants take to the stage to overcome their fears and spread a laugh.
The club began work from the end of August. According to Apoorv, the extra events this year meant that their workload increased considerably. The club’s brainstorming and practice sessions gradually increase from three hours long to seven hours long a week before Oasis. The club feels that the three months of hard work and sleepless nights pay off when they see the audience being entertained by their performances. Apoorv implores everyone, freshers in particular, to come out and attend the inauguration. Seeing a larger audience gives the performers a lot of confidence and motivation.