Written by Kez Shay

And the Award goes to ….

The slightly controversial (?) and glamorous Hum TV awards were held some eons ago in March at the Expo Center in Karachi and the drama buffs and TV enthusiasts patiently waited for them to go on air. After creating much hype and sho-sha, the heavily edited and pieced together ceremony was aired this past Sunday. Drenched in a bit of controversy and favoritism from the time the nominations were announced to the actual ceremony, the event – from the promos – seemed like it was arranged and put together well.

The controversy – Major critically and commercially acclaimed Dramas such as Dur-e-shewar, Bilquese Kaur, Humsafar were left out of, it seemed deliberately. One of the important aspects of awards is that one competes for an honor among his/her peers, and it felt like that important aspect was missed/ignored. Some even accuse that the awards were fixed and were distributed to chosen artists rather than deserving ones.

And now to the nitty gritties …

The stage – The stage I have to say was very grand and beautiful. Lighting was top notch.

The Hosts – The dapper Mikal, the Gorgeous Mahira, and the very handsome funny man Vasay. I have to say they did a great job individually; together there was no chemistry among the hosts. There were blank faces and lack of spontaneity, as can happen with written/scripted pieces; regardless it was well “directed”.

The jokes – Some fell flat like and some managed to make people laugh and some were totally awkward.

Vasay presenting Sarmad Khosat (how handsome is he????)!!! with a signed copy of SeZ and hinting towards the FB nok-jhok between him and Umera Ahmed was majorly funny. Mikal’s Lawn commercial portfolio, awesome. Vasay and his discount at Nabila’s  Salon for Immu’s hair was awesome. Mikal commenting on Saba Qamar and his kamar – awkward. Vasay trying to engage FK in his hair clip joke for his YouTube career was awkward times two. It had the makings of the best jokes of the night, if only FK had humored us, but alas! Such was not meant to be.

The performances – the good, the bad, the ugly

Abida Parveen and Rabbi Shergil’s performance left me astounded and loved every bit of it. Umer Sharif’s stand up act was well Umer Sharif’s stand up act. Humayun Saeed and his gang dancing was nothing new but we did get to hear the songs from Pakistan’s first sports movie. Fahad Mustafa’s dance routine and his singing was high energy and loved that he paid tribute to our very best singers. LED Butterflies was something new but not impressive. Ahsan/Mehvish and Humaima’s dance routines left a bad taste. The costumes for Ahsan and Mehvish were garish and so was their dance routine. I am not sure why cheap/vulgar bollywood songs were picked where as we have plenty of great bollywood and home grown music. Humaima can dance, no doubt but it was still hard to digest and I am sure other people are thinking along those lines too. I know we can’t ask the celebrities to do a tableau on “Lub pey aati hai dua” or tone it down because guess what these are not suppose to be family programming but an aesthetic level can be maintained. During the dance performances, I felt like it was something from Telemundo (Spanish/Mexican channel in the USA) – and that is not a good thing.

The editing

Some things are better left unsaid but I can’t help it. I will still try to say few things which I think were editing flaws that my untrained eye saw. The show was heavily edited and pieced together, which I am sure is a necessity when it needs to go on air but there were continuity errors. When Bushra Ansari was introducing the veteran actors she was on stage with a black halter dress and when the camera cut to the audience, she was sitting in the audience in a red sari. Talk about being in two places at once. It also seemed like throughout the show celebrities kept on changing their seats. It bothered me but then it might just be me. The best new sensation award female was awarded to Suhai Abroo, the girl that collected the award was not Suhai – correct me if I am wrong but from what I know Suhai is the new comer that hosted the Making of the Hum TV awards with Noor Hassan.

The (non existent) Red carpet

I wish they had showed the red carpet arrivals as well, we saw glimpses of it during the promos but if we had seen it in its entirety it would have been great.

The Celebrities –

Samina Peerzada, Mahira Khan, Sanam Jung, Sanam Saeed, Saba Qamar, Aamina Sheikh, Badar Khalil, Uroosa Siddiqui, Bushra Ansari, all looked fashionable and gorgeous.

Mikal Zulfiqar, Vasay Chaudhry, Mohib Mirza, Sheheryar Munawar, Danish Taimoor, Imran Abbas, Ahsan Khan and pouty Fawad Khan looked dapper in their suits and sherwanis.

Memorable Moments from the night – Honoring Moin Akhtar, Dastaan and TV veterans such as Zaheen Tahira, Badar Khalil, Munawar Saeed, Talat Hussain, Kavi Khan , Qazi Wajid, Shakeel, Anwar Maqsood.

Over all, the ceremony was well arranged and I appreciate that such an event was put together. It was arranged for the celebrities and it seemed like they enjoyed the event.

Written by Kez Shay