LIVEWIRE: LESSONS UNLEARNED
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?