The Lux Style Awards (LSAs) matter — to a burgeoning slew of people that form Pakistan’s fashion and entertainment industries, and to their many fans. People may profess that they don’t care when they aren’t nominated for the win and they may talk of boycotting the awards ceremony, but they also rant as the ceremony date draws closer. They spend ages devising their looks for the red carpet and often crib as soon as the winning results are announced. It all indicates just how coveted those elusive silver statuettes continue to be; and one has always loved the LSAs for it.

As the winning female model for this year, Amna Babar, candidly said in her acceptance speech, “In the past years when I was nominated and didn’t win, I would say that I hadn’t expected to win, but deep down in my heart, I would always be thinking that maybe I’ll get the award this time. And now I got it!”

Given the continued adulation that they enjoy, the LSAs need to take the role they play very seriously. The country’s longest standing entertainment-based awards ceremony needs to put out a slick, well-orchestrated annual show. Also, the award wins need to make sense to industry professionals. This year, the LSAs’ 17th year, the show fumbled quite often.

As always, the results were mired in controversy. Favourites Punjab Nahi Jaungi and Baaghi won big but others who deserved didn’t. Should Mahira Khan’s role in Verna really have won the accolade for Best Actress in Film beating Mehwish Hayat’s performance in the very successful Punjab Nahi Jaungi? Should Nauman Ijaz really have been nominated as Best Actor in TV for Pinjar where he had a total of some 16 scenes — rather than Sang-i-Marmar, where he had a far more meatier role? Plenty of starry egos were thwarted and backstage was rife with whispers about how could so and so win.

Missing stars, uncalled-for statements and jokes that drew a blank made the recently held 17th Lux Style Awards a pretty blasé affair. But they might be remembered for some of the jokes and this year’s copycat #MeinBhi theme

But controversies surrounding award results are standard LSA fare. More significantly, the ceremony hiccupped far too often, veering towards being offensive and exhaustingly stretching far beyond midnight. The joke floating around that the show was that it could be renamed ‘Late Style Awards’. The LSAs certainly need to try harder and, once and for all, timings need to be sorted out.

A befitting theme

What did work this time round was the launch of #MeinBhi, despite its copycat nature, a movement launched by Frieha Altaf to create awareness and work for the protection of human rights. Frieha was the event’s long time show director till 2016 and was brought on board at the last minute this year to direct the opening and finale sequences. She also gave out a special award to recently deceased lawyer and human rights icon Asma Jahangir, which was accepted by her daughter Munizae Jahangir.

Standing in solidarity against the recent cases of child abuse discovered in Pakistan, the usual song and dance performances were eliminated from the schedule, barring a dramatic jugat between Sahir Ali Bagga and Ali Azmat, which was directed by Vaneeza Ahmed. This is, of course, no huge loss considering just how badly a lot of our stars dance. It is also the need of the hour for mainstream platforms such as the LSAs to acknowledge and create awareness regarding social issues.

The show started off with Mahira Khan and kathak dancer Naheed Siddiqui performing to Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s Bol ke lab azaad hain tere. It was followed by an endearing segment where actors Ahsan Khan and Aamna Ilyas danced with children on stage. The finale featured about 150 musicians, singers and personalities on stage, singing Shehzad Roy’s Uth baandh kamar kya darta hai.

Particularly making impact were the scripts written for these various segments by the very eloquent Sarmad Khoosat. At one point, it read out, ‘Kehna, bolna aur awaz uthana sirf hamari salahiyat nahi, hamari zimmedari bhi hai aur haq bhi.’ [To speak the truth out loud isn’t just our ability but also our responsibility and our right.]

It was a well-conceived, befitting theme but even while highlighting social issues, a show such as the LSAs needs to be entertaining. Thankfully, the well-selected music and star power on stage ensured that the ceremony didn’t deteriorate into long well-meaning lectures on human rights.

Stars, where art thou?

Speaking of stars, there were many that appeared on the red carpet in their blingy best. But there were certain others that were noticeably missing. Where, one wondered, were the industry’s blue-eyed boys Ali Zafar, Atif Aslam and Fawad Khan? It was good to see cinema veterans such as Syed Noor, Javed Sheikh, Sangeeta and Nisho in the audience, but others such as Shaan, Resham and Babra Sharif didn’t bother to come. Best Actress for Drama winner Saba Qamar chose to sit out the ceremony and Mehwish Hayat, nominee for Best Actress in Film, apparently missed a flight and couldn’t make it.

Within the fashion industry, the winners turned up but many of the nominees were missing. Do nominees somehow gauge that they are not getting a trophy and don’t turn up? Shouldn’t getting a nomination be enough for them to turn up and support the industry that they belong to? Shouldn’t the LSAs be about industry camaraderie rather than just another excuse for our stars to go on ego trips? Also providing standard post-LSA gossip were the stars that walked off in a huff when it turned out that they hadn’t won.

Comic hits … and misses

Without any performances serving as ‘entertainment’, the show’s primary focus fell on the shoulders of comic duo Ahmed Ali Butt and Vasay Chaudhry. Fortunately for the LSAs, their shoulders are quite well-worn and accustomed to the task. One could say that no efforts were made to think out of the box since both Ahmed and Vasay have hosted far too many awards shows. And it was indeed very formulaic but, surprisingly, more often than not the formula seemed to work.

Ahmed Ali Butt opened his act with a hilarious rap sequence, unabashedly poking fun at everyone under the sun, from Hassan Sheheryar Yasin (HSY) to Mahira Khan, Shaan and the LSAs’ apparent lack of budget this year — which caused the show’s initial director HSY to drop out. The witticisms continued in a later sequence where stars were court-martialed. There was a sense of déjà vu when the two called Humayun Saeed and then Hamza Ali Abbasi to be questioned — it’s a trick they’ve tried out umpteen times before — but some of the jokes, at least, were funny.

There were others that weren’t. Staid Jawani Phir Nahi Ani references, item song anecdotes with Hamza Ali Abbasi and far too many anti-social media jokes made one feel that perhaps some of the script had been written in a rush. The biggest blunder took place when Ahmed called upon men and, later, women from the audience, made them stand against the stage, and had the audience clap for whoever they thought was best dressed. Most of the selected stars looked visibly uncomfortable — Abrar ul Haq, Sajal Aly and Ainy Jaffri among them. It was in bad taste and, once again, seemed like a segment that was created on the fly.

Also in bad taste were certain jibes that will most certainly have to be edited out when the show airs on TV. For example, model Rabia Butt, while announcing the winner for Best Bridal Designer, wisecracked, “Shall I name the best designer or read out the name on the envelope?” It was a very below-the-belt dig at winners Sana Safinaz and far too immature for a platform such as the LSAs.

Music that worked, that didn’t

One has also gotten tired of Mahira Khan being teased about her Bollywood movie opposite Shah Rukh Khan. SRK certainly isn’t waxing on about it — why are we? On that tangent, there was no need for Ahsan Khan to briefly dance with Mahira on Zaalima, a song from her Bollywood movie. Been there, done that, and now it’s just old news. Much more riveting were the spurts of live singing on stage by Mohsin Abbas Haider, Quratulain Baloch and Aima Baig.

Yet another memorable LSA moment came via Javed Sheikh when he came on stage to accept his award for Best Supporting Actor in Film for Na Maloom Afraad 2. “To reach for the skies, you have to keep your feet on the ground,” he said.

Perhaps the LSAs have floated off the ground but are unable to fly high. Barring some memorable moments, the show should have — could have — flown higher.

Published in Dawn, ICON, February 25th, 2018