KARACHI: The first QMobile Hum Style Awards ’16 (QHSA) took place at the Expo Centre late on Friday night to honour and celebrate accomplishments in fashion, sports, television, music and films, and for presenting style at its very best.

The evening started late and was hosted by Ahmed Ali Akbar (of Karachi Se Lahore fame) and Ayesha Omer as co-host. Together, they pulled punches at the showbiz fraternity in a lighter vein as the latter pretended to walk him through the who’s who of local showbiz and entertainment.

The two have earlier worked together in a localised theatrical production of Grease the Musical by director/actor Nida Butt.

Nida Butt also choreographed and directed all the song and dance performances that took place during the night featuring prominent names in showbiz such as Ali Zafar and Sohai Ali Abro who performed on Ali Zafar’s popular hits. Their lively and colourful performance was based on Pakistan’s truck art. Saba Qamar with Zahid Ahmed danced to a medley of Madam Noor Jahan filmi classics .Topping it all off was the HSY-Anoushey Ashraf-Zhalay Sarhadi-Sonia Hussain performance in which they danced to popular anthems from the ’70s,’80s, ’90s and 2000 in garbs and styling typical of each era.

Other notable acts included those by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, social media sensation Zaid Ali T, Aaminah Sheikh who pulled off a flawless mock commentary in One Ball Show that pitched showbiz stars as cricket players in a bid to win an argument with co-hosts Ahmed Ali and Adnan Malik that women too can ace sports commentary.

In her address, president of Hum Network Sultana Siddiqui pointed out that they had always put Pakistan first. She named all the leading names in Pakistani showbiz who made it big in Bollywood, and gained international recognition and acclaim. She added that these stars from Pakistan gained so much appreciation that certain quarters had now become scared of our artists and consider them a threat to their counterparts in India, hence the move to ban Pakistani artists from working in Bollywood.

She also announced plans to hold the Karachi International Film Festival next.

CEO of Hum Network Duraid Siddiqui also spoke on the occasion and paid homage to those who “create hope and paint dreams without a paintbrush and a canvas.”

The categories and recipients of the QHSA 0’16 are: Best Male Model Shahzad Noor, Best Female Model Amna Baber, Hair & Make-up Artist of the Year Hannan Siddiqui, Fashion Photographer of the Year Shahbaz Shazi, Fashion Publication of the Year Diva, QMobile Rising Star Ashna Khan, Most Stylist Male Performer Ali Zafar, Most Stylish Female Performer Meesha Shafi, Most Stylish Sports Personality Shahid Afridi, Designer of the Year (Lawn) Elan, Designer of the Year (Demi Couture) Shehla Chatoor, Retail Brand of the Year Sapphire, Designer of the Year (Fashion Jewellery) Amber Sami, Designer of the Year (Menswear) Republic by Omar Farooq, Designer of the Year (Bridal) Faraz Manan, Style Icon 2016 Waseem Akram, Most Stylish Actor (Television) Hamza Ali Abbasi, Most Stylish Actress (Television) Syra Shehroz, Most Stylish Actor (Films) Humayun Saeed, Most Stylish Actress (Films) Mahira Khan, Excellence in Designing Bunto Kazmi, Excellence in Styling Nabila, and Special Recognition Award Naz Mansha.

The hair and make-up was by the creative team at Nabila’s and N-Gents, media management by Take II, fashion styling by Fahad Hussayn and backstage management by Production O21.

Published in Dawn October 30th, 2016

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