A starry night of recognition

After a turbulent year in Pakistan entertainment industry, release of one film after another, drama serials scoring high and actors going beyond borders for recognition, all eyes were on the main event: the 6th HUM Awards. Time to find out whether crowd favourites left empty-handed or the underdogs swept the show with the winners.As the industry celebrated one of Pakistan’s most cogitated golden statuettes of Pakistan, held in Toronto recently, came with the fair share of snubs and surprises. Well, there’s nothing new about it, you can always expect surprises at this event but knowing where to expect them is tricky. This year they came early, offering some hair-raising spectacles and the others, well, leaving a sour note.From the new sensation on the block who this year has started to make waves in the industry and already stipulated to make a silver screen debut, to the Excellence in Cinema Award for a woman who took over Lollywood with storm during her time; there are lots of surprises and predicted winners with lots of familiar faces in what is arguably, the most definitive selection of entertainment industry. As expected, political zingers from host Yasir Hussain and Sanam Jung charmed the audiences at their gig. Yasir’s desi comedy did get a reality check and of course in a good way after his abominable and slipping comments last year, that forced the public and media backlash. Similar script and tiredness in content as Yasir gets synonymous with comic acts, but that doesn’t really matter till he’s successful enough in bringing humour to a five hours long show. Isn’t it?Power packed performances, including the young lot of the entertainment industry taking over the stage to Mahira Khan’s performance, it was nice to see all coming together. Not only did our favourite stars push the envelope in their respective nominated categories, but they also stepped it up on the red carpet as well.Although actress Mahira Khan is a really good dancer, and has always proved her raw talent worldwide, but the dress she sported for her performance wasn’t just ‘it’. The deep blue silhouette paired with Kajra and tied up hair, couldn’t really do justice to the current cine queen, who set the stage alight.One could always censure why Lollywood must dance to Bollywood tunes. There is no denying the latter’s influence in the Pakistani pop culture and more so in the entertainment arena but, since Pakistani movies are rolling in with real substance lately, the awards this season was an effort to promote Pakistani content. Even Raees’s Zaalima was re-done as a cover track for Mahira’s performance!Where last year’s award belonged to Sania Saeed’s starrer Sang-e-Mar Mar, this time it was the turn of Alif Allah Aur Insaan and Yaqeen Ka Safar to win big. Where the former won six out of 18 total in television category, the most of the ceremony, including Best Actor in Supporting Role – Male/Female, Best Actor in a Negative Role, Best Writer Drama Serial, Best Director Drama Serial – Jury, Most Impactful Character in Serial and Best Drama Serial – Jury, Yaqeen Ka Safar bagged five on a night of recognition.Where actor Humayun Saeed is considered a regular when it comes to performing, actresses Hareem Farooq, Kubra Khan and Hania Amir were an absolute surprise, and definitely in a good way. It was a fantastic night of racy performers where, Ahad Raza Mir, Hamza Ali Abbasi and Mikaal Zulfiqar, for instance, put in the most rousing act of a resplendent evening. The Best Female and Male Actor — Popular category had a mix of actors who have perfected their own style. But Mahira Khan and Humayun Saeed continue to get bigger and better every year and their claim to the trophy of Recognition Awards in Film was indisputable. Where Reema took the award for Excellence in Cinema, the night belonged to Sajal Aly however, winning Best Actor(Female) Drama Serial — Jury and Popular. As for Best Actor (Popular), who else could have won but the new fine addition to Pakistan entertainment fraternity: Ahad Raza Mir.