The Second ARY Film Awards were held in Dubai where Pakistani film and TV stars were seen in full attendance, and all the films released last year (except Momina Duraid Productions’ Bin Roye) were submitted for nominations with nearly all of them (except Shah) receiving a trophy.

The event held on a grand scale was hosted by Fahad Mustafa and anchor Sana Buccha. Besides announcing the categories and guests, the hosts also did not spare anyone from their community — including themselves — from becoming the target of their witty remarks.

Has Pakistan’s film industry arrived on the international scene?

In case you’re starting to wonder what happened to Ahmad Ali Butt; he came, he performed and made everyone laugh their hearts out. Whenever he appeared on stage, people knew that they were in for mega-hysterics: from ‘Baby Angel’ (based on Tahir Shah’s Angel music video that went viral) to ‘Lollypop Awards’, taking jabs at Urwa and giving her the make-believe ‘Wannabe Arbi Award’, presenting a ‘Wife’time Achievement Award to Humayun Saeed, a Hamza Ali Abbasi award for actor Gohar Rasheed and the Qandeel Baloch Award to Hamza Ali Abbasi. He even announced an award for Wiqar Ali Khan; the ‘Waisay Tum Kya Karte Ho’ award. The audience laughed away when he announced the ‘Kaash Main Javed Sheikh Hota’ award for Behroze Sabzwari (the latter came on stage to receive it). Similarly, when he announced the ‘Buy One Get One Free’ award, many in the audience knew instinctively he meant Aijazz Aslam and Faysal Qureshi.

Back to the actual awards, as mentioned earlier nearly every film nominated won an award that night. Refreshingly, the awards for cinematography, background score, special effects (visuals) and performance in a negative role (Ayaz Sammo) went to Moor which was not an ARY venture.

Ayesha Omar won in the female debut category (Karachi Se Lahore) whereas the jury awards for actor, actress and independent film went to Geo Films’ Manto with Sarmad Khoosat, Sania Saeed and Babar Javed bagging the coveted trophies. Special awards were also presented to Na Maloom Afraad and 3 Bahadur, since these two ventures took the film industry forward by being out-of-the-box and different.

Jawani Phir Nahi Aani (JPNA) ran away with a majority of awards. The ARY home production bagged the trophies in the categories of best choreography (Shabina Khan), best make-up (Nabila), best editing and best action (Rizwan AQ, Victor Krav), best screenplay, dialogue and story (Vasay Chaudhry), best music (Shani Arshad), best director (Nadeem Baig), best film/actor (Humayun Saeed), best actress (Sohai Ali Abro), best supporting actor (Hamza Ali Abbasi) and best supporting actress (Aisha Khan).

At this point, the hosts took a swing at JPNA by asking Vasay Chaudhry to stay back as the next award might also go to him — which it did. Writer/actor Vasay ended up with three trophies (he forgot to thank his family when he came to receive the first two). Both Ahmad Ali Butt and Ayaz Sammo moved the audience with their emotional speeches, the former saying he missed his mother Zille Huma and the latter his father who couldn’t live to see his son win an award.

Veteran actor Javed Sheikh received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his services to Pakistani cinema, and although he was humbled for this recognition he said that he wasn’t finished yet and would term it a Half-Lifetime Achievement.

Bin Roye may not have been submitted for nomination but that did not hold Mahira Khan back from winning the ‘Entertainer of the Year’ award. However, it was her Humsafar co-star Fawad Khan who was the center of attention during the ceremony. After receiving the International Icon Award; he corrected the host for labeling him as the fourth Khan of Bollywood — after Aamir, Shah Rukh and Salman.

And then there were the performances; those who hadn’t seen actor Faysal Qureshi dance were in for a surprise when he set the AFA stage on fire with his moves, flanked by Mathira and Sanam Chaudhry. Fahad Mustafa’s tribute to Waheed Murad also made it to the highlights of the evening because of the display of boundless energy as he danced to remixed ’70s tracks and his style which reminds us of the great actor. Waheed Murad’s son Adil Murad received the award on behalf of his late father and dedicated it to all his fans across the world.

Dancing queens Sohai Ali Abro, Mehwish Hayat and Noor Bukhari also performed but it was the JPNA lads — Humayun Saeed, Vasay Chaudhry, Ahmad Ali Butt — who closed the awards ceremony by performing on the songs of the box office hit.

Before signing off, here’s a nagging thought: what if award ceremonies go the way of fashion weeks with everybody wanting one of their own?

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, April 24th, 2016