November 2016

The first Q-Mobile Hum Style Awards, held on October 28 at the Expo Centre, got off to a flying start as two of the most stylish stars of the entertainment world took centrestage for the opening number. A spectacular dance performance choreographed by Nida Butt, producer of two of the most popular Broadway musicals, Chicago and Mamma Mia, staged in Pakistan.

Equally impressive were two other performances by Ali Zafar and Sohai Ali Abro — its concept and styling drew inspiration from truck art — and HSY’s peppy number with Zhalay Sarhadi, Anoushey Ashraf and Sonia Hussain. However, the Saba Qamar and Zahid Ahmed number, to a medley of Noor Jehan’s songs, lacked energy.

The first Hum Style Awards was high both on the hot and haute quotient.

From cricket’s superstars, Wasim Akram (accompanied by wife Shaniera), Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik, to television hotties, Mahira Khan (looking gorgeous in a Rizwan Beyg creation), Mawra Hocane (in a gold dress), Sanam Saeed (in a striking red and black outfit) and the ethereal Syra Shehroz, to Facebook darling Hamza Abbasi and the eternally youthful Humayun Saeed, to the gurus of style, Rizwan Beyg, Maheen Khan, Shamael Ansari and Bunto Kazmi — it was a veritable feast for the eyes.

All in all, a fun evening, but not without its share of shortcomings. The show began fashionably late — at 10:45 p.m — with the result that the early-to-bed in the audiences (who left at 2 p.m) missed out on HSY and Ali Zafar.

Rahat Fateh Ali Khan chose to lip-sync all his hit numbers, which was very disappointing coming from an artiste of his calibre.

Zaid Ali, the funny man imported all the way from Canada, did not live upto his reputation.

And finally, the script was too long-winded. Please, please keep it short, sweet and punchy, next time round.

Judge for yourself. Watch the clip below.