Winners List & Highlights from 17th Lux Style Awards 2018

The 17th LUX Style Awards, held at the Lahore Expo, not only recognized and acknowledged excellence in Fashion, Film, Music and TV but also created consciousness about various social causes, such as sexual abuse, child abuse and human rights. In light of the recent events of inhumane acts and overpowering social injustice, this much anticipated award show took on a new direction and became the beacon of light and hope as activists came forth to spread a message of consolidated will to stand together, speak up and fight for human rights within the industry and society.

Winners List & Highlights from 16th Lux Style Awards 2017

The event started off with celebrities and prominent personalities walking down the grandest red carpet Pakistan has witnessed to date. Ali Kazmi, the official Red Carpet host engaged the stars in quick and light hearted conversations after visiting the Social Corner, which was hosted by Ayesha Omar.

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This corner served as a space for the stars to openly speak about the many social issues that impact our society, their views on what needs to be done and how, whilst also emphasizing that everyone from the entertainment industry is ready to join hands and take action against injustices. Among distinguished names who expressed strong views at the social corner were, Amir Adnan, Kamiar Rokni, Aamna Ilyas, Nabila, Shazia Syed, Chairperson of Unilever, Ehsan Sehbai, CEO of Shaheen Airline Pakistan, Sanam Saeed, Aamina Sheikh and Adnan Malik and many others. The celebrities also signed pledges to make a difference in the society, at the pledge wall placed just before entering the main area.

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Frieha Altaf, the mastermind behind the Mein Bhi social movement, a Catwalk Cares initiative also displayed her courage at the corner, as she stated, “I love children and I want to be the voice for them because they themselves don’t have any voice. We always stay silent about social issues, be it child abuse or sexual harassment. It’s time we wake up, speak up and stand for justice. It’s time we come together as a nation and do something monumental using star power and every other force that can help us make our society a better place where social injustices don’t exist, where every kid, every woman feels safe and secure, enough to do the things they want and the way they want to go about it.”

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Unlike the usual ritzy performances, the acts this year shed light on the importance of standing together, in unity, in solidarity against cruel acts. Mahira Khan opened the show by reciting an impactful poem called, “Bol Kay Lab” by the legendary Faiz Ahmed Faiz, comprising of numerous meaningful verses that touched everyone’s hearts. She was joined by the Lifetime Achievement Award Winner, Nahid Siddiqui, as they beautifully performed together. This act portrayed adults looking back at their childhood, with each of them questioning their reasons for not speaking up when they had the chance to. It further indicated that we continue to live our mundane lives until we are hit by a catastrophe and this realization is what turns into positivity with time as depicted in the performance by Ahsan Khan, the supporter and activist for child abuse and Amna Ilyas, who stands against racism. The act ended on a hopeful note, where kids were lifted in the air, in a circle, highlighting that the person is always free to discover his happiness. The song for this performance was the melodious “Gurus of Peace”, sung by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and A.R Rehman and the dance composition by Nahid Siddiqui and Shalam of the renowned music band, Fuzon. The inspirational and uplifting dance act was choreographed by Wahab Shah.

During the show, a tribute was also paid to the honorable human rights and social activist, Asma Jehangir. To give a short speech about her, Sarmad Khoosat was invited upon stage, as he spoke about her power, “Asma did not need any power because she already had it. She not only symbolized feminism but also hope, justice, fearlessness, bravery, humanity and much more.” The posthumous award was collected by Asma Jehangir’s daughter Munizae Jehangir who upon receiving it, shared some beautiful words about her late mother.

As the grand evening came towards an end, an anthem for the “Mein Bhi” movement was performed with over 32 musicians and artists and a 40 piece orchestra that recreated Shehzad Roy’s song Kya Darta Hai. A combination of young and old singers, rappers, rockstars and qawals took the stage to emulate exactly what the #MeinBhi movement stands for: togetherness. It was extremely heart-warming and overwhelming to see veterans such as Abu Fareed Ayaz and Humeira Channa sing along side Pakistan’s emerging talent, such as Kashmir The Band, Sounds of Kolachi, Lyari Underground, Abid Brohi, the Viccaji sisters, Natasha Baig, Aima Baig, Mussarrat Misbah and her many acid burn survivors, Ansar Burney and his work, Maheen Khan, Zurein Imam and many others, who through the power of music, came together to voice their support for the Mein Bhi movement.

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Besides honoring the excellence of the entertainment industry this year, the 17^th LUX Style Awards took a huge step in encouraging many to break the silence on issues that should be bravely voiced.

The LUX Style Awards is the most anticipated and coveted award show in Pakistan that continues to honor achievements in Film, Fashion, Music and Television all under one umbrella.

The show flow was managed by Vaneeza Ahmad, creative direction for the two performing acts were by Frieha Altaf, event managed by Jalal Salahuddin Events and produced by NJ Productions. It is slated to air on HUM TV.