The 14th Lux Style Awards (LSAs) are finally all set to take place with a promise of glitz, glamour, the whole shebang.
The show is going to be hosted by Fawad Khan and Mahira Khan, the much-loved Humsafar couple. Both stars have huge fan followings and airtime ratings are definitely going to shoot with the two being seen together after a long, long time.
Returning to the spotlight this year, the LSAs need to deliver in order to re-assert their credibility and keep audiences hooked. Frieha is promising ‘something new’ and we’re taking her word for it.
Quite a bit of refreshing ‘newness’ is going to be injected in by TV and cinema’s young blood, who are being touted as the show’s predominant entertainment factor. This is unlike previous LSAs where the shiny veneer of Lollywood featured prominently.
Now, the performances belong to the enterprising, very fashion-savvy stars and starlets who have lately been spreading their wings on the silver screen. Hopefully, this also indicates a departure from garish, bling-infested costumes that were used for performances in earlier LSAs.
There’s going to be a bit of Coke Studio music and judging from the many backstage images filtering in via Instagram, Ali Zafar is set to make an appearance. Could this year’s other Coke Studio star, Atif Aslam, also be a part of the LSA entourage? We’re not sure but we certainly hope so!
The Lifetime Achievement Award for Fashion is being given to Musarrat Misbah, for her many contributions through her conglomerate of salons at Depilex and her philanthropic work in aid of acid-burn victims.
The Unilever Chairman’s Lifetime Achievement Award has been reserved for filmmaker Syed Noor. There is, as is tradition, going to be the requisite tribute to the legends, but fortunately, this won’t be dedicated to Nazia Hassan or Madam Nur Jehan. With all due respect to the two, we have seen enough dedications to them — and some badly stilted ones, at that — to last us a lifetime.
The LSA ceremonies may have faltered lately, the awards most certainly need to be given out at a better time and every year, the nominations may stir up controversy with spurned contenders openly questioning their credibility.
Regardless, the LSAs continues to be the only award-giving platform that isn’t aligned with a single channel and represents the Pakistani entertainment minefield on the whole.
It will, as always, be riveting to see who wins and who doesn’t and following this, the inevitable diatribe dissecting certain results as fair and others as unfair.
Over time, the LSAs have been accused of bias and pandering to personal vendettas — and yet, 14 years down the line, the show’s results are still significant enough to be constantly scrutinised and discussed, supported and criticised. It is this interest that it continues to generate that makes the LSAs a distinctive brand name, keeping audiences hooked and the select milieu of the ceremony’s attendees excited.
It is this that’s going to have us shake out those uncomfortable high heels for the LSA 2015 red carpet. The show has certainly been advertised this year like never before. Let’s hope the show is worth the hype, and is reflective of their legacy in Pakistani entertainment.