After the Lux Style Awards this past weekend, there were many good and bad things that came to light about our entertainment industry. Our industry is still too young to be a massive force in the world but they’re trying, at least. And that’s what counts, right?
Apparently Lux Style Awards are not as “honest”, according to some
While awards are supposed to be a time to bring everyone together and celebrate the good work people have done in the past year, there are some who have raised doubts about the LSA’s and how they work. This isn’t even new, people have always passed off comments post the awards ever since their early days. There have been concerns about how the “big stars” only show up to these awards shows only if they’re given an award (or two), and one would think that sore losers have a tendency to cry out about it. But, at the same time, one does wonder of it has anything to do with our infatuation with conspiracy theories?
Is there any legitimacy to the concerns raised by this guy about the music awards?
Mubashir Naeem Butt posted a video on July 31 expressing his distress about the winner of the ‘Best Emerging Talent in Music’. The winner is Zeerak Ahmed, who goes by the name of Slowspin, professionally. Mubashir was of the opinion that he wasn’t aware of the music by Slowspin and that he would rather have wanted to see another nominee, SomeWhatSuper, to have won because of their song, Bandook, being a big hit. He thought that the award was rigged in favor of Slowspin.
Now, this person may be a fan, or a friend, of SomeWhatSuper and he is entitled to his opinion. For some reason, this “opinion” got a lot of attention. What is good, though, is that this has opened up a debate around what the Pakistani music industry stands for and the role of gender, personal connections and talent as a factor for winning or losing awards.
What happened after he posted this video is nothing short of “crazy”.
The video by Mubashir generated a buzz among the music industry insiders and a lot of people began commenting, starting a debate about whether or not the awards were rigged. Sadly, there was a bit (or actually, a lot) of mud slinging from those who disagreed with Mubashir, as well as those who agreed with his opinion.
Famous musicians began jumping in the debate
Like Xulfi, from Call
This is what he had to say on the matter, “I love the music I did in EP, I love the music I did elsewhere too. In Call, in ads, in India. That’s who I am. I love doing all kinds of music. I told you before, I’ll tell you the same again.. Music Awards will matter in the future if and only if there’s a thriving music industry. At the moment, it’s not one so don’t worry. Just keep doing music. If you would let THIS get to you today, then tomorrow wouldn’t be any easier for you. I’m not asking you to give up. I’m telling you that there are things hundred times better than today’s awards out there. You’ll know yourself what they are. Be patient.”
And Rachel Viccaji
The Viccaji sibling was quick to remind Mubashir that bringing someone else down, in order to show support for their personal favorite was not necessarily the way to go about. She said, “If you are upset with the way things are done in a certain sphere, as most of us are, don’t blindly throw someone under the bus who doesn’t conform to your ideas of what constitutes a real and deserving artist. I think you owe an apology”.
In order to clarify if any of the nominees harbored any ill feelings, we got in touch with a couple of them and this is what they had to say:
Mehdi Maloof
Slowspin, the winner, and SomeWhatSuper did not respond till the time of publication
Someone even made a remix of the video
Now this song could also have won an LSA, tbh.
What do you have to say about this “controversy”?
Cover Image via: citynews.news