The annual Lux Style Awards that honour excellence across the realms of Fashion, Film, Music and Television have announced the nominees for the year 2016 and it’s a decent mix of young, old, commercially popular and critically acclaimed.
FASHION
With a total of 10 categories, fashion is the heaviest segment at the Lux Style Awards and is always a reason of excitement, disgruntlement, controversy and scandal in the industry. This year, one can sense a definite drift towards recognizing younger talent, whether it’s in the pool of models or fashion photographers. Rabia Butt is the only name from the old guard who has made it to top model (Female) whereas Model of the Year (Male) is an impressive selection of ‘men of the moment’. Ali Hasan and Shahbaz Shazi are two relatively new names in the photographer’s pit and while Guddu Shani and Nadir Feroz Khan have oodles of work to their credit, Abdullah Harris’ signature vision cannot go unrecognized. Missing in action here is ace photographer Rizwan ul Haq. The Hair & Makeup category has really opened up since Nabila surrendered her winning slot to allow others a chance and it now features four distinct names as well as one Shazia Rashid, who is relatively unknown but has an impressive body of work for 2016. One is surprised, though, that the Depilex team did not make the cut.
Fashion Design nominations are always a source of scandal and this year’s list will undoubtedly be no different. Pret has been completely overtaken by five extremely strong and commercially viable high street brands. While critical excellence looks towards names like Body Focus Museum, Sonya Battla, Sania Maskatiya and Misha Lakhani for example, it can be assumed that their accessibility and mass popularity does not match the high street brands. The highly competitive Luxury Pret category, swept by Karachi, is also missing names like Maheen Karim, Misha Lakhani and Nomi Ansari. When it comes to Fashion Design – Bridal, these five names did achieve excellence (it’ll be hard to chose a winner) whereas Fashion Design – Lawn unsurprisingly features these five designers and no textile giant. While Amir Adnan, Hassan Sheheryar Yasin and Nauman Afreen showed prolifically in 2016, one is surprised at the silent nod given to low profile albeit brilliant Ismail Farid and Ahmed Bham.
Missing here are Deepak Perwani and Republic. Emerging Talent is always the most challenging category as it recognizes debutantes from a cross-section of the fashion industry; historically this award always ends up with the most visible faces: the models.
Model of the Year (Female)
Amna Babar, Anam Malik, Rabia Butt, Sadaf Kanwal, Zara Abid
Model of the Year (Male)
Aimal Khan, Hasnain Lehri, Jahan-e-Khalid, Shahzad Noor, Waleed Khalid
Best Fashion Photographer
Abdullah Harris, Ali Hasan, Guddu Shani, Nadir Feroz Khan & Maha Burney at NFK Photography, Shahbaz Shazi
Best Hair and Make-up Artist
Natasha Khalid, Omayr Waqar, Saima Rashid Bargfred, Shammal Qureshi, Shazia Rashid
Achievement in Fashion Design – Pret
Coco by Zara Shahjahan, Generation, Khaadi, Sana Safinaz, Sapphire
Achievement in Fashion Design – Luxury Pret
Mahgul, Sana Safinaz, Sania Maskatiya, Shamaeel Ansari, Shehla Chatoor
Achievement in Fashion Design – Bridal
Ali Xeeshan, Elan, Faraz Manan, Mahgul, The House of Kamiar Rokni
Achievement in Fashion Design – Lawn
Elan, Faraz Manan, Sana Safinaz, Shehla Chatoor, Zara Shahjahan
Best Menswear Designer
Ahmed Bham, Amir Adnan, Hassan Sheheryar Yasin, Ismail Farid, Nauman Arfeen
Best Emerging Talent
Aashna Khan – Photographer, Giti Ara – Model, Hira Shah – Model, Imaan Madani – Model, The Pink Tree Company – Designer
FILM
The film nominations for this year’s LSA are a testament to our thriving film industry. One may argue that the films produced last year were not up to the mark, but the fact that there are so many options to choose from points to the fact that we’re headed in the right direction. In 2015, there were only three films nominated in the Best Film category but this year, we have five very worthy films. Actor in Law, Ho Mann Jahaan and Janaan were commercially successful films and while films like Dobara Phir Se and Mah-e-Mir did not do so well at the box office, they were received well by fans and critics alike.
However, the strongest contender in this race has to be Nabeel Qureshi’s Actor in Law, and both leads of the film, Fahad Mustafa and Mehwish Hayat, have given some stiff competition to other actors. Mustafa is competing with Ashir Azeem for Malik, Mohib Mirza for Bachaana, Yasir Hussain for Lahore Se Aagey and himself for Mah-e-Mir. It seems to be an easy win for Mustafa at this point.
On the other hand, Hayat is competing with Mahira Khan for HMJ and Sajal Aly for Zindagi Kitni Haseen Hay. Khan is a darling of the industry and has many fans rooting for her while Aly delivered a memorable performance in her debut role. This award will be a difficult win for any of the three actresses.
The awards for the Best Supporting Actor and Actress have thankfully recognized all the incredible emerging talent we’ve seen on the big screen last year. The late Om Puri has also been nominated for Actor in Law and we were extremely pleased to see Manzar Sehbhai’s nomination for Mah-e-Mir as he was easily the best actor in the film. However, the most popular contender for the award is Sheheryar Munawer for HMJ.
The award for Best Film Director is a toss between Asim Raza for HMJ and Nabeel Qureshi for Actor in Law.
2016 also saw some brilliant soundtracks and musical scores. While Atif Aslam is the strongest name in the Best Singer (Male) category, the Best Singer (Female) also has many strong names, such as Haniya Aslam, Zeb Bangash and Aima Baig.
Best Film
Actor in Law, Dobara Phir Se, Ho Mann Jahaan, Janaan, Mah-e-Mir
Best Film Actress
Mahira Khan for Ho Mann Jahaan, Mehwish Hayat for Actor in Law, Sabar Qamar for Lahore Se Aagey, Sajal Aly for Zindagi Kitni Haseen Hay, Sanam Saeed for Bachaana
Best Film Actor
Ashar Azeem for Maalik, Fahad Mustafa for Actor in Law, Fahad Mustafa for Mah-e-Mir, Mohib Mirza for Bachaana, Yasir Hussain for Lahore Se Aagey
Best Film Director
Anjum Shahzad for Mah-e-Mir, Asim Raza for Ho Mann Jahaan, Azfar Jafri for Janaan, Mehreen Jabbar for Dobara Phir Se, Nabeel Qureshi for Actor in Law, Wajahat Rauf for Lahore Se Aagey  Â
Best Supporting Actress
Hania Aamir for Janaan, Saboor Ali for Actor in Law, Sanam Saeed for Dobara Phir Se, Sonya Jehan for Ho Mann Jahaan, Tooba Siddiqui for Dobara Phir Se Â
Best Supporting Actor    Â
Ali Kazmi for Dobara Phir Se, Ali Rehman Khan for Janaan, Manzar Sehbhai for Mah-e-Mir, Om Puri for Actor in Law, Shehryar Munawar for Ho Mann Jahaan      Â
Best Singer (Male) – Film
Arman Malik for ‘Janaan’ (Janaan), Asrar for ‘Funkaran’ (Actor in Law), Atif Aslam for ‘Dil Dancer’ (Actor in Law), Rajab Ali for ‘Yeh Dhuan’ (Mah-e-Mir), Shafqat Amanat Ali for ‘Piya Dekhan Ko’ (Mah-e-Mir)
Best Singer (Female) – Film
Aima Baig for ‘Kalabaaz Dil’ (Lahore se Aagey), Haniya Aslam for ‘Dobara Phir Se’ (Dobara Phir Se), Masooma Anwer for ‘Naina Roye’ (Maalik), Shreya Ghoshal for ‘Janaan’ (Janaan), Zeb Bangash for ‘Dil Pagla’ (Ho Mann Jahaan)
MUSIC
The music category at the LSA might be the smallest one, with only four awards, but it’s an important one because 2016 has seen an incredible rise in original, local content and we can imagine that this category will grow in the next couple of years.
Moving on to the first award, it’s heartening to see the presence of so many, worthy music albums at a time where music is supposedly dead in Pakistan and record labels merely have a ceremonial position in the industry. After winning an award for Best Video for his song ‘Mariam’, Mooroo’s work is again being recognized by the LSA; his album i stands as a strong contender for the Best Album award.
Song of the Year category has brought forward some commercial names, such as Quratulain Baloch for ‘Saiyaan‘ and Umair Jaswal and Ahmed Jehanzeb for ‘Khaki Banda.‘ It also features some lesser known but well deserving names such as Sibti and Chand Tara Orchestra. Jimmy Khan has become an LSA favourite because of his phenomenal work year after year, which is why we aren’t surprised at all to see his name in the Best Song category.
Music videos this past year have been outstanding and it’s going to be a difficult win. Abdullah Harris did a brilliant job with Asrar’s ‘Sag-e-Ali‘; it is perhaps one of the most technically sound videos in the Best Video Director category. However, another strong contender in this category is Kamal Khan, who has been nominated for two videos which both deserve a win: Zoe Viccaji’s ‘Ho Jao Azad‘ which was shot in the picturesque Hunza, and D/A Method’s ‘The Desert Journey’ which featured Suhaee Abro in a brothel.
Album of the Year
Book of Sibt by Sibti, Indus Raag 2 by Shareef Awan, Na Bhulana by Uzair Jaswal, Pehli by Mooroo, You by The Sketches
Song of the Year
‘Baarish’ by Tonight Us and Jimmy Khan, ‘Haiyyah’ from The Book of Sibt by Sibti, ‘Khak Nasheen’ by Chand Tara Orchestra, ‘Khaki Banda’ by Umair Jaswal and Ahmed Jahanzeb, ‘Saaiyan’ by Quratulain Baloch
Best Music Video Director
Abdullah Harris for ‘Sag-e-Ali’ by Asrar, Aisha Linea Akhtar & Shahbaz Shigri for ‘Le Chaloon’ by Salman Shaukat, Kamal Khan for ‘Ho Jao Azad’ by Zoe Viccaji, Kamal Khan for ‘The Desert Journey’ by D/A Method, Shahab Qamar for ‘Hero’ by Naseer & Shahab
Best Emerging Talent
Basit Ali for Vocals in Anokha Ladla, Bilal Nasir Khan (Rudoh) for Tales for Scrap, Hamza Akram Qawwal for Khuddi, Natasha Baig for Janaan, Shehroz Hussain for Sitaar in Anokha Ladla
TELEVISION
The nominations for the Television category are well balanced: The awards have recognized the brilliance of Udaari and Dillagi while also recognizing the popularity of Mann Mayal. However, Udaari‘s cast and crew are most likely to win most of the awards. Ahsan Khan has been nominated for Best Actor and even though he is competing with some stellar performers, such as Humayun Saeed for Dillagi, Noman Ijaz for Dumpukht – Aatish-e-Ishq and Faysal Qureshi for Bheegi Palkein, it was his portrayal of a difficult character that will probably win the award.
Saba Qamar has bagged two nominations in the Best Actress category for her performance in Besharam and Mein Sitara. Other prominent names in this category are Mehwish Hayat for Dillagi and Maya Ali for Mann Mayal.
Also, Dumpukht has been recognized in at least three categories: Best Actor, Best TV Director and Best TV Writer while both Dillagi and Udaari have both gotten 5 nominations each.
Best TV Play
Besharam on ARY Digital, Dillagi on ARY Digital, Mann Mayal on Hum TV, Mein Sitara on TV One, Udaari on Hum TV
Best TV Actor
Ahsan Khan for Udaari, Faysal Qureshi for Bheegi Palkein, Humayun Saeed for Dillagi, Noman Ijaz for Dumpukht, Zahid Ahmed for Besharam
Best TV Actress
Maya Ali for Mann Mayal, Mehwish Hayat for Dillagi, Saba Qamar for Besharam, Saba Qamar for Mein Sitara, Sajal Ali for Gul-e-Rana
Best TV Director
Ehtishaamuddin for Udaari, Farooq Rind for Besharam, Haseeb Hasan for Mann Mayal, Kashif Nisar for Dumpukht, Nadeem Baig for Dillagi
Best TV Writer
Faiza Iftikhar for Dillagi, Farhat Ishtiaq for Udaari, Sameera Fazal for Mann Mayal, Sarwat Nazeer for Besharam, Zafar Mairai for Dumpukht
Best Original Sound Track
‘Sun Yara‘ by Damia Farooq (ARY Digital) (Producer: Six Sigma Productions), ‘Udaari‘ by Hadiqa Kiani (HUM TV) (Producer: Momina Duraid, Haisaam Hussain and Shahzad Kashmiri), ‘Hatheli‘ by Nabeel Shaukat (HUM TV) (Producer: Moomal Shunaid, Moomal Entertainment), ‘Mann Mayal‘ by Quratulain Balouch (HUM TV) (Producer: Momina Duraid, Samina Humayun Saeed, Tariq Shah, Sana Shahnawaz), ‘Yeh Ishq‘ by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan (ARY Digital) (Producer: Big Bang Productions)
