The Hum Telefilm Awards was a star-studded affair with stunning performances, mind-blowing screenplays and fabulous works of art and tech put together.

lf you are big time meat aficionado, the views outside your window this Eid-ul-Azha must have been entertaining enough. What with carcasses, blood, animals singing or cursing (whatever you may want to imagine), butchers hacking away while men and women joyously watched the bloody (literally) spectacle, doling out chunks of meat in pots and bags with children running around in a frenzy for some odd reason.

But if you are not so passionate about the whole idea, you might have switched the telly on for some respite. Well, if you saw the cooking shows, Zubeida Tariq, Chef Zakir, Shai, and Gulzar were ceremoniously barbequing, sautéing, frying, roasting all sorts of meat; your heart must have bled like mine for vegetarians. Then there were the film reports of bakra mandis and even the Eid plays centred round sacrificial animals with a humorous angle like Babu Bhai ka Bel with commendable performances.

There were a couple of other wishy washy romantic plays like Dil Dena Seekho Ji which had nothing to do with Eid but the regular 'ideal boy wants to marry ideal girl with the world supporting him but the girl can't see the light' theme. We are so 'not' excited about those branded baithaks on every channel where hosts and guests resplendent in glitzy outfits sit among balloons talking nonsense, best watched in mute! Broadly speaking, Eid programming was comme ci, comme ca, nothing to write home about, just something to watch when you wanted to kill time.

The show was well put together with performances by Meera, Mona Lisa and the hot Umaima Abbassi, who looks like a total glam doll and could easily outdo the likes of Bollywood babes, Bipasha Basu and Rakhi Sawant.

The best play of the lot was Dulha Bhai with Noman Ijaz in the title role. Even though the theme was not Eid in particular, the storyline, direction, sets, make-overs and performances by Noman Ijaz, Hina Dilpazeer and others were brilliant and funny.

What came as a life saver was the Hum Telefilm Awards. Cleverly timed as a late night show, they probably pulled in a decent viewership around 10pm. Hosted by Mikaal Hassan and Juggan Kazim, the latter was at her spontaneous best. The choreography left a lot to be desired but all in all the show was well put together with performances by Meera, Mona Lisa and the hot Umaima Abbassi, who looks like a total glam doll and could easily outdo the likes of Bollywood babes, Bipasha Basu and Rakhi Sawant; whether draped on hubby Shamoon's arm or shaking her delicate booty on a sexy Bollywood number!

The awards show was a star-studded affair and while entertainment was just one aspect of it, the more serious format comprised telefilms being given awards. Each one of them had stunning performances, mind-blowing screenplays and were fabulous works of art and tech put together, giving one the feeling of watching alternate cinema or a Bollywood art film. The jury must have had a hard time picking out the best.

Perhaps one day all this amazing Pakistani talent will be transferred to 35mm and that will be the best cinema would have to offer.