On the positive front,filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy became the first Pakistani to win the prestigious 2018 Eliasson Global Leadership Prize. Stylist Nabila gave Bollywood a dose of refined Pakistani styling by became the official stylist for the prestigious IIFA (International Indian Film Academy) awards as well as for Dubai-based Masala! awards. Faraz Manan also gave Bollywood a dose of high-end Pakistani fashionwhen popular Indian actress Kareena Kapoor Khan walked as his showstopper at the Masala! awards. Mahira Khan served up glamour at the Cannes red carpet by becoming the first L’Oreal Paris Hair spokesperson from Pakistan to share the spotlight with the likes of Jane Fonda, Penelope Cruz, Eva Longoria and Sonam Kapoor. Sania Maskatiya debuted on the New York Fashion Week (NYFW) catwalk in a collective showcase for emerging designers. And this was the real NYFW and not all those other shows that take place at the same time as major fashion weeks, charge colossal sums from local designers so that they can participate and then they go on to tell the world, we’ve just showcased at the fashion week in New York/London/Paris/Milan. You know which designers we’re referring to, right?
Instagram’s freebie wedding trend continued. Let’s see, there were TV actors Muneeb Butt and Aiman Khan going all out with a never-ending wedding, where they graciously thanked their sponsors every now and then and invited the entire blogger community to capture the various stages of their nuptials.
The first Pakistan International Film Festival (PIFF) took place, ambitiously endeavouring to represent Pakistan’s burgeoning film industry as well as acknowledge cinema from around the world. Vishal and Rekha Bhardwaj and Nandita Das from India were invited and nearly anyone who was anyone in Pakistan’s film industry attended. There were fumbles, delays, hitches, glitches but it was a good first attempt. It does need to get stronger next year!
Koko Korina made the celebrity fraternity very, very scared. A single song, often sung tunelessly at weddings, awakened the ire of the entire nation and Momina Mustehsan and Ahad Raza Mir were categorically told that they had ruined the song, that they would burn in hell for it and, according to Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari, that they had ‘massacred’ it. Momina tried to save the situation by quoting nobly from the Spiderman movie but nothing could really mollify the twitter tirades and memes … except for time. Like all social media controversies, this one was riveting and trended for a time before being replaced by the next bit of news. But everyone was really scared. Apparently it’s just not enough to look good, people want actual talent in singing.
Pakistani cinema became bigger, better, stronger. Jawani Phir Nahi Ani 2 (JPNA2) hit new box office records by becoming the highest grossing Pakistani movie ever. Other impressive movies through the year: Cake, MotorcycleGirl, Pinky Memsaab, Teefa In Trouble,Load Wedding and Parwaaz Hai Junoon. Everyone heaved a sigh of relief at the recovery from repercussions of the self-inflicted axe-to-the-foot ban on Indian films in 2016. An even more encouraging trend was the rise of local animation albeit with mixed results. There was Donkey King becoming a hit with its street-smart storyline. Allahyar and the Legend of Markhor raised the bar for local animation and made a commendable effort to tell a story where humans and animals converse together. And then there were the others: Tick Tock scrambling uninterestingly with very mediocre animation and 3 Bahadur: Rise of the Warriors crumbling under the weight of heavy product placement.
But morning shows hit new lows mainly thanks to the double whammy served by the two ‘Sanams’. Sanam Jung felt that it was quite all right to promote ‘blackface’, to use terms like ‘habshan’ and ‘negro’ and to take on the grueling challenge of making dark-skinned girls ‘beautiful’ at her morning show. Sanam Baloch, meanwhile, discussed the many virtues of leading a polygamous life along with televangelist-turned-politician Aamir Liaquat who, of course, finds second marriages quite holy.
Add in Sahir Lodhi singing tonelessly and Nida Yasir dabbing at her mascara-laden eyes every time she married off girls at her morning show and we’ve stopped turning on the TV in the morning.
Local cable-waalas were forced to get inventive with the Supreme Court going through yet another patriotic phase and decreeing that all Indian content be removed from television and radio channels. Our masses, though, refuse to be deprived of their daily dose of saas-bahu histrionics and a great dealing of wheeling and dealing with the friendly cable guy on the block has managed to get Indian content inching its way back on to our air waves — hidden surreptitiously amongst local channels or airing only during specific timings of the day. When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
TV networks continued to believe in being socially relevant — and earning high ratings through it. This year, we saw dramas narrating the life of Qandeel Baloch (Baaghi), tackling topics such as domestic abuse and depression (Aakhri Station), critiquing the obsession with giving birth to sons (Beti) and the horrors of child abuse, chillingly enacted by Naumaan Ijaz in Darr Si Jaati Hai Sila, Mohsin Abbas Haider in Meri Gurriya and Faysal Quraishi in Haiwaan. In the past, dramas such as Muqabil, Roag and, of course, Udaari have also tackled child rape and abuse.
Yes, our TV channels are quite socially conscious — and, it seems, inclined towards latching on to a hit formula and milking it for all that it’s worth.
Thankfully, concert culture is rearing to get going again and it’s starting to become quite a rollicking ride, with Junoon making a grand ‘comeback’, Ali Azmat belting out a ‘Sound Clash’ with Strings and live performances by the likes of Atif Aslam, Asim Azhar, Asrar and Fuzon getting incorporated into food festivals.
Of course, there were also the many musical nights, often featuring the melodious Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, and plenty of ‘shaadi’ concerts, with performances by top artistes, attended only by the rich and famous who ubiquitously upload the concert videos on to social media in an effort to prove precisely how rich and famous they are.
And how could we wrap up a recap of the year in the entertainment world without mentioning possibly the biggest scandal to have shaken up Pakistani entertainment ever. Meesha Shafi set off the Me Too! movement in Pakistan when she accused fellow singer and actor Ali Zafar of having harassed her. The case is currently in the court which is why we can’t discuss it any further but it continues to be dissected in detail and it’s made some men ‑— and even women — very, very scared.
Across the border, prominent Bollywood personalities were also blamed and shamed by men and women that they had allegedly abused in the past. This turn of events has made a lot of people think back to their years in the business, wondering if karma may just be about to bite them back. It has also, hopefully, been a first step in building more conscientious work environments in all industries.
Meanwhile, there were the usual fashion shows that went on and on and on, plenty of social media catfights and some very scared men and women. Let’s just say it’s been quite colourful. On to the next year!
Published in Dawn, ICON, December 30th, 2018