Lux Style Awards 2012

Widely acknowledged to be the Oscars of Pakistan, the Lux Style Awards is an award ceremony that first began in 2002. The Lux awards academy is the first of its kind in Pakistan and dedicated to celebrating and honouring the country’s best talents in film, television, music, and fashion. Each year the most deserving nominees are selected by a jury, and voted for by people.

This year, the celebration happened at the Expo Center in Karachi, and the ceremony took off with a bang. The function started with anamazing rap performance by Ahmed Ali Butt, who proved to be just as witty as he is versatile and had the audience in stitches poking light fun at their expense.

The highlight of the show came with Ali Zafar’s moving tribute to the late King of Ghazal Mehdi Hassan with a soulful redition of Mujhay Tum Nazr Say Girah Tou Rahay Ho. Ali Zafar also won the award for the Best Music Album for Jhoom from Mekaal Hasan and Zoe Viccaji.

Among the other big winners was Humaima Malick who received the Best Actress award forBol, and Quratulain Balouch who received both the Song of the Year and Best Original Soundtrack for the immensely popular Woh Humsafar Tha, from the drama series Humsafar. The award for Best Music Video Director was given to Adnan Malik for Mera Bichra Yaar, while the Best Emerging Talent award went to Bumbu Sauce.

Lux Style Awards 2012 were attended by some of the most well know musicians of the country including Ali Zafar, Bilal Khan, Mekaal Hasan, Junaid Khan, JoSH and Zoe Viccaji.

Ali Zafar later got the party started by putting on an electrifying performance with Humaima Malik to the beat of Jhoom and Madhubala.

On the sidelines, the controvertial Pakistani film actress, Meera, took part in a round of Antakshari initiated by Humaima Malik and Ahmed Ali Butt. The audience was left amused when instead of starting with the syllable r, she joyfully burst into a La la la and sang Har Kisi Koh Nahin without a thought. Taking cue from the recent environment-friendly fad that has taken over awards shows and designer initiatives, the award ceremony’s carpet was green instead of red which was quite a change from last year’s blue. Celebrities posed for pictures dressed to the nines in designer finery reflecting the Western 70s theme of the event.

The green carpet was hosted by Moomal Sheikh, daughter of Javed sheikh. The management promised live streaming of the event as well for the very first time, with the majority of celebrities favouring black, white and gold tones. Among these was Humaima Malick who wore a stunning offwhite creation by Shantanu n Nikhil.

However, the performances were by far the most entertaining segment. A medley was performed by a number of celebrities including Ahmed Jahanzeb, Ahsan Khan, Mathira, Meera, Faisal Qureshi and Sana. The show also included a tribute to Ahmed Rushdie with classics likeYeh Aada, Yeh Naz, Yeh Andaz Aap Ka, Socha Tha Pyar Na Kerain Gaay and Ko Ko Korina.

Oscar winning documentary maker Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy was acknowledged with a Lux Style Achievement award, and graciously accepted her award by saying, “I feel that the LSA is as special to me as the Academy Award.” Wearing a Saniya Maskatiya outfit, she was grateful that her work “was recognized for the first time by a Pakistani forum”. “In our society, we seldom celebrate peoples’ achievements,” Obaid-Chinoy told, “We need to have a culture that supports such work.”

Shoaib Mansoor’s Bol was also the winner of three awards including the LSA for Best Actor. On the fashion forum, Achievement in Fashion Design (Lawn) was awarded to the designer duo Sana Safinaz. A consecutive win for the designers, whose lawn collection was one of the most sought after in the past year. Kamiar Rokni was also a big winner and got the award for Achievement in Fashion Design.

According to the LSA event managers, this was the biggest award show that they had put together ever in Pakistan, with the organizing committee flying in over 100 nominees and eventual winners from all over the continent. Rehearsals for the event began weeks ago with final preparations well in place. The performing and hosting members from stage, television, film and the music industries were diligently perfecting their acts well into the night before the event, determined to put on the best show for the live and television audiences alike.

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