Another award show enters the race
In an evening of style, stars and glamour – the first
QMobile Hum Style Awards begin with a bang.
Karachi :This weekend saw the latest entry to Pakistan’s entertainment industry’s already long list of award shows, except that this entire evening celebrated and acknowledged style and glamour. The evening brought many celebrities under one roof – cricketers such as Shahid Afridi and Wasim Akram, style and fashion gurus such as Rizwan Beyg and Tariq Amin, along with many other notable names in film, fashion and music as well.
Opening the show with an electrifying performance were Ahmed Ali, Meesha Shafi and Umair Jaswal in a cabaret style musical, a specialty of the choreographer of the evening Nida Butt, who has many musicals to her name. All three performers mesmerized the audience with their dance as well as singing skills. Nida Butt’s choreography really stood out: one could tell that the dance performances weren’t your average Bollywood-esque masala dance moves. However, not every performer was able to execute the moves as well but it was a welcome change from what we usually see.
The first half of the awards, hosted by the multi-talented Ahmed Ali and the beautiful Ayesha Omar, started off with the fashion categories in which Amna Babar and Shehzad Noor won the Best Model Awards. Shahbaz Shazi won the Fashion Photographer award amid stiff competition from other strong contenders such as Abdullah Harris, Nadir Feroz Khan and Guddu Shani.
Taking the award for Designer of the Year – Demi Couture was Shehla Chatoor, who was also the only fashion designer, nominated for three fashion awards.
“First of all, I’m honoured to even be considered by such a platform. It takes a lot of sweat and tears to reach this position. There are no shortcuts in the fashion industry,” Chatoor told Instep. Khadijah Shah was also a popular name of the night as she collected two awards: Designer of the Year – Lawn for Elan and Retail Brand of the Year for Sapphire. Faraz Manan won Best Designer in the bridal category while Hanan Siddiqui picked up the award for Best Hair and Makeup.
The evening didn’t forget to acknowledge our stylish cricketers: Shahid Afridi won the Most Stylish Sporting Personality while Wasim Akram won the Style Icon award. Special awards were given to two names who have really shaped the industry with their work, Bunto Kazmi and Nabila, who were awarded for Excellence in the Field of Designing and Styling, respectively.
The otherwise long duration of the show was shortened by some high adrenaline performances, with Hasan Sheheryar Yasin leading the race as he was joined on stage by Anoushey Ashraf, Zhalay Sarhadi and Sonya Hussain as they danced to the memorable beats of some of our legends such as Alamgir, Nazia Hassan and Sajjad Ali. It was absolutely thrilling to see Pakistani music dominating the stage. Later, Ali Zafar took the stage to sing a mash-up of his hit numbers such as ‘Voh Dekhnay Mein’ and ‘Jhoom’. A hot favourite of the stage, Sohai Abro joined the singer as both of them danced to other Ali Zafar numbers. Other performers on stage included Saba Qamar and Zahid Ahmed, and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, who had the audience cheering with his rendition of ‘Afreen Afreen.’ Momina Mustehsan was missed.
Flying in all the way from Canada was viral sensation Zaid Ali T who took the stage to perform a hilarious one man show, poking fun at his usual suspects: desi aunties who can’t stop bragging about their children’s non-existent achievements.
The second part of the evening was hosted by the charming Adnan Malik and the phenomenal Aamina Sheikh who tried to keep the audience awake till the wee hours of the night with various segments, such as the film critic section where they made fun of all the major film releases of this past year.
It was also announced that the show organizers will be involved in producing a film festival that will take place next year. No further details were given.
The evening ended in at unpleasantly late hour, as award shows usually do, and was ironically low on style and glamour, as most award shows have become of recent. But it did manage to deliver an entertaining evening that, if continued every year, will give the Lux Style Awards stiff competition in the future.
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