LIVEWIRE: LET THE GOOD VIBES ROLL
It was a glitzy night. But then, it is imperative for an awards ceremony to deliver on the glitz in order to prove its mettle. The Hum Style Awards (HSAs), in its fourth edition, managed to do so, swirling together the usual staple ingredients — but also added in something ‘extra’ to make the experience unique.
A fair sprinkling of star power on the red carpet led to a ceremony held together by sharp hosting, energetic performances and intriguing awards announcements. Helping the show along was the fact that it ended shortly after midnight — that’s very early by local standards. Dance and song numbers and awards results are always so much more enjoyable when you’re still wide awake enough to clap to them.
But moving beyond logistics, the HSAs were lifted up by a well-planned show. The organisers, thankfully, opted for veterans to host the show rather than giving the stage over to the ‘new’ and the ‘young’. While I have nothing against entertainment’s fledgling stars, they have in the past proven to bumble many an awards ceremony, with dud jokes, awkward pauses and their inability to speak fluently in a single language, frequently interrupting the flow of conversation by mixing English with Urdu.
While the entertainment was both on and off the stage at the Hum Style Awards, the comic moments were not always the most memorable
This year, however, the very glib Adnan Siddiqui took to the stage as host, bantering effortlessly, making quips — sometimes badly chosen double-meaning ones — about the government, the film industry, fashion — you know, the usual. But Adnan’s a smooth talker and he knows how to deliver one-liners. Co-hosting with him was Aamina Sheikh, who has always been very eloquent and was a great choice for the stage, and Usman Mukhtar who held his own quite well. The only time when I felt that Usman faltered was when he roamed the audience and poked fun at the celebrity guests — now a regular awards show trope. He cracked the jokes but he couldn’t draw the rollicking laughs that, for instance, other awards show hosts — Ahmed Ali Butt and Yasir Hussain come to mind — manage to do with ease.