In a bid to put Pakistani fashion and style industry in international spotlight, Lux Style Awards were held in Dubai this year. The question remains, can't Pakistan go international without becoming Bollywood?
What do you get when you mix the high-end world of Pakistan fashion, the roaring lion that is Pakistani pop and the swiveling queens of Lollywood and interface them with an Indian crew? A show that sails smoothly without a hitch certainly - but also a show that rolls along on alien territory. This is precisely what happened at the third Lux Style Awards that put a motley crew of Pakistani talent on a grand stage on Dubai recently and will beam out to all of Sony's 25 million plus viewers around the world any time soon.
When you see the Lux Style Awards 2004, you will see Aaminah Haq kicking up her heels to a can-can inspired number. You will see Zainab Qayyum dressed as Nefertiti/Cleopatra as Indian dancers prance around in Egyptian costumes in a dance as reminiscent of masala films as it is of Michael Jackson. Saadia Imam will emerge in a kimono as Mandarin Martial Artists from China showing off their kung fu wizardry. And last but not the least, the film actresses, all at their cantankerous flamboyant best, with heaving bosoms and lips firmly in pout position, performing item numbers amidst a bevy of Bollywood dancers making all the right, inspired from across the border, moves. This visual assault will be punctuated with performances by Najam, Faakhir, Ali Zafar, Fuzon and Strings -all of whom will look good because they weren't live. All throughout the show you will see Nadia Jamil introducing people in her very confident manner. And presenting the Awards will be the pride of Pakistan - stalwarts like Nadeem, Samina and Usman Peerzada, Sahira Kazmi and Javed Sheikh standing with the stars of today like Shaan, Vinny, Faisal Rehman, Iman and Adnan Siddiqui. They all looked so good and lent a stunning sobriety to an evening of excessive masala laden madness.
Three hundred and fifty people from our fashion, music, television and film industries were flown to Dubai to be a part of this evening. It was a mini Pakistan at the hotel with familiar faces all over the place. Frieha Altaf was busy with meetings. The girls (Natasha, ZQ, Vinny, Iman) lounged about even as they flitted to consultations with Tariq (Amin). Rehearsals went on at the Dubai Convention Centre, which was adjacent to the hotel. There was a definite spirit in the air that was somewhat dampened by a poster in the lobby which had Sonu Nigam beaming out, surrounded by Iman, Aaminah, Sadia, Meera, Nirma, Sana and Priyanka Chopra. "The pride of Pakistan goes international!" It was a sign of things to come.
The show began with Najam singing 'Yeh Moamla Koi Aur Hai', his superhit hymn of last year. There are those of the view that this shouldn't be allowed, but the question is why not? When gospels can be a huge part of the repertoire of a singer in the West and Lata Mangeshkar can sing bhajans across the border, why can't our pop singers recite naat and hamd? Anyway, he soon swung into song and the show really began. The first segment was outlandish with Shaolin Monks from China that were a brilliant visual precursor to Sadia Imam's rather damp entry as an Oriental beauty icon. All the beauty icons were damp, especially Aaminah and ZQ. The ones who sizzled were the Lollywood starlets who pranced, danced and pouted with the best of them. The only sedate one was Resham, who played the sub continental beauty, but her segment was also the most hair-raising. She entered as Mumtaz Mahal to the strains of an Umrao Jaan Ada tune, which soon turned into a 'Kahe Ched Mohe' song from the new Devdas. The music was punctuated by an uninspired narration and ended with Mumtaz Mahal being laid to rest by her sons in dhotis. The Mughals must have collectively rolled over in their graves. How one wished that it were Iman Ali up there instead, swaying to 'Anarkali' - Supreme Ishq 2, which won the award for Best Music Video. It may be a branded song, but at least it's ours.
That was the problem with the 3rd Lux Style Awards. They did not have the feel of Pakistan, despite the fact that Pakistani talent was under the spotlight. That can be attributed to the fact that the show was choreographed and implemented for Sony TV by a wholly Indian crew. The directors Tarun Chopra and Ashim Sen were Indian as was the choreographer Terence Malik. They all did an outstanding job, as far as technicalities are concerned. The problem was that they had exactly four days to work with Pakistani talent and as Indians, they didn't know much about it. In the process Pakistan was Bollywood-ised because that is what the Sony crew knows best.
When you put one Pakistani actress or a model amongst a dance troupe of around two dozen people who have been practicing their moves in India and have got their costumes from there as well, the effect is non-Pakistani. For Nirma's item number, the dancers were wearing lilac ghararas with shocking pink ponchos. Never before has such a sight been seen in Pakistan, but then again, never before has Nirma looked as good or performed as well elsewhere. Ditto for Meera and Sana. The night belonged to Lollywood.
The tragedy is that it was Pakistani fashion that took a fall. The fashion industry was restricted to presenting Awards and dressing stars for the night. Here, Tariq Amin and his team outdid themselves. Every Pakistani on stage was given his and her individual look and they all did us proud. Be it the timeless class act duo Samina and Usman Peerzada, Ayesha Alam looking ravishing in a Sana Safinaz outfit or Vinny dressed to kill in Nomi Ansari pants and an Umar Sayeed top. Sahira Kazmi in ash pink that softened her aggressive personality without detracting from her stature. And ZQ was in a stunning Nomi Ansari jora, hair pulled back and traditional earrings dangling from her ears, picked up a well-deserved trophy for Best Model. This is the aspect of Pakistani fashion that one knows, loves so well and whose potential one believes in. But the national television's archaic censorship policy rules out high fashion and the industry suffers hugely at events such at this.
This was a night when the stunning ideals of Pakistan's fashion industry were outshone by the sheer garishness of Lollywood. Pakistan's two premier models ZQ and Aaminah also did numbers. The first was the Middle East beauty icon that came on as an Egyptian pharaoh queen, while Aaminah was a Latino beauty icon, the only icon to wear a Pakistani label Karma. Sony had designed the costumes for the other beauty icons. Both looked quite out of place in the middle of the Bollywood blast around them. ZQ with men dancing like Egyptians all around her, while Aaminah was surrounded by women in a cheap imitation of samba costumes, looking like mock peacocks complete with upturned tails in green, yellow and purple. This is not what Aaminah and ZQ do best. It is ironic that the Lux Style Awards cannot project fashion because of state television's policy that doesn't allow fashion even as it turns a blind eye to the tackiness of modern day Pakistani cinema. The censors will clear Meera boogying away to glory, but they have a problem with Aaminah Haq walking down a ramp. It remains to be seen what bits of the show make it on national television, but chances are that large chunks will be censored. Nabila wore a stunning sleeveless black gown. Zara Sheikh, a halter neck. And there were plunging necklines all round, especially those of the actresses who performed.
What national television will definitely air are the songs. A man singing has never bothered anyone and now, even Shallum Xavier's long hair is acceptable. (Remember the controversy Junoon's hair styles sparked during Nawaz Sharif's tenure?) And the music acts were the best part of the event. Music is the most vibrant industry in Pakistani entertainment today and the only one that has made breakthroughs into the Indian (Junoon, Adnan Sami Khan and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan) and world market (Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan).
However, the musicians did not play live. Strings and Fuzon were quite cut up about the fact that they couldn't. They were expected to go on and perform and that is exactly what they did. The only one who came through with flying colours was Ali Zafar who injected life into the evening with his rendition of 'Channo' and had an otherwise staid audience on its feet. That was because he walked down the stage and towards them. Strings, Fuzon and Najam are not fantastic entertainers, but they are fabulous musicians who come into their own when their instruments are plugged in and electrified. They feel and therefore look like shadows of their real selves with unplugged guitars in their hands and a drum kit nowhere in sight.
According to Rajan Singh Vice President Sony TV if Sony had been asked to record live music, they would have done so. Musicians stated that they would prefer playing live, but that is needless to say, they always do. Of course that would have meant getting in all the band members and equipment to Dubai, but it would have been well worth the cost. It's fine when Meera lip-syncs to a Lollywood song. But when it's about the music, the music should be played. This becomes all the more important when musicians are being honoured. It may not be all that important for playback singers.
At the end of the day, Pakistan has a fashion and music culture that has evolved on an absolutely different wavelength from that of Indian cinema. Our fashion is entirely different from the multi-coloured concoctions that are the norm across the border. Our music is also very edgy and the videos that we make are a parallel universe. Our musicians have made their work as distant from Bollywood as possible. Fashion and music are the two fortes of Pakistan and these are what took a backseat making room for crass Lollywood to swing supreme. And that is a real tragedy because our film industry is the part of entertainment that has the least to offer and has a negligible contribution to the blooming media tree of Pakistan.
JWT-Asiatic had come up with the concept of the show, which was a rather loosely paid tribute to beauty that had everything to do with making Pakistanis represent beauty icons of the Asia Pacific and little to do with the local scene. 'Beauty' is what the Lux Style Awards have revolved around since their inception and with each passing year, the theme of 'beauty' will become more and more difficult to exploit without resorting to cliches. Beauty is beauty. It is not fast paced. It has a hard time being edgy and by its very definition it conforms to the norm. It is no wonder that Faisal Qureshi wrote a weak script with jokes that failed to tickle and little wonder too that Nadia Jamil didn't really impress. As an actress or a host, she needs matter to work with. Going by what she had, she did a pretty good job.
It remains to be seen what the Awards will look like on screen. Five days after the show was held, Rajan Singh, proclaimed that he had seen the rushes and the show was looking fantastic. If it's good enough to merit three hours of airtime on Sony TV, the show must look good. Held in Dubai, the new commercial centre of the world, it unfolded in a grand auditorium. It was shot by a crew with the kind of experience no Pakistani director can boast of. It was a collaboration effort with Sony TV that has an audience of 28 million international viewers, which no Pakistani channel has yet. It was big, it was bright, and it had the entire glamour quotient required for a good show -- by Bollywood standards. Looking at things the way they are it did not do justice to the talent of Pakistan. Indeed, the finale, went to Sonu Nigam who was also the only musician to perform live.
Overall the show was a huge disappointment for the many Pakistanis who had flown in, especially the people from fashion and music, but one can also safely say that it will translate better on camera than the first two LSAs. In an ideal world the first LSA (strong on relevant content) would have been held in Dubai and been produced and directed by an experienced crew. That would have been the ideal formula. This show will merely give much needed exposure to our music industry and five minutes of international fame to Lollywood actresses and do nothing for Style. And hopefully, by looking at the nominees, presenters and our pop acts, people who tune in world wide, will wonder how artists who come together for a show so like Bollywood's can be so very different.
Posted on 6/6/2004 3:10:15 AM
iam sorry to say but the worst film is declared as best movie of the year its a shame 
..too good...
who always rubbish talking without watching any urdu movie and read some one man show article.
