The 8th Hum Awards were a testament to the worldwide clout of Pakistan’s entertainment industry.
Held in Toronto, Canada at the First Ontario Centre on Saturday, the star-studded event featured well-loved stars and was attended by an audience of over 12,000. Many miles away from Pakistan, the masses of fans gathered on the red carpet and the huge crowd attending the awards ceremony were an indication of the immense following that Hum TV’s dramas have worldwide. Also taking place on the red carpet was a donation drive for Pakistan’s flood affected areas where attendees could simply donate by scanning a particular QR code on their phones.
The event could not take place in 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic and the two-year lapse seems to have had built public anticipation to a high.
The event was off to a powerful start with the singing of the Pakistani and Canadian national anthems. The Pakistani celebrities who were especially in Toronto for the event came on stage and they were accompanied by the thousands in the audience, all united while singing the Pakistani anthem together.
Multiple celebrities hosted the evening, namely Ahsan Khan, Hareem Farooq, Ali Rehman Khan, Yasir Hussain, Ushna Shah, Aymen Saleem, Ahmed Ali Butt and Bilal Ashraf. The opening act for the night was a very funny rendition of the classic song Ko Ko Korina by Yasir Hussain and Ali Rehman Khan. Scheduled in between the awards announcements was a line-up of dazzling performances. The first performance of the night featured Farhan Saeed and Hania Aaamir. Later in the night, there was a musical act by Azaan Sami Khan, a dance performance by Bilal Ashraf and Mahira Khan, a musical act by Atif Aslam and a dance by Zara Noor Abbas and Urwa Hocane. There was also a hilarious comic act delivered by Ahmed Ali Butt.
Pakistani entertainment’s most prestigious names presented the awards; namely Sultana Siddiqui, Duraid Quraishi, Imran Ashraf, Bilal Ashraf, Anoushey Abbasi, Shahzad Sheikh, Adeel Hussain, Komal Mir, Urwa Hocane, Nomi Ansari, Iqra Aziz, Ahmed Ali Akbar, Ayeza Khan, Osman Khalid Butt, Naumaan Ijaz, Zeba Bakhtiar, Sania Saeed, Sonya Hussain, Bushra Ansari, Ahsan Khan, Reema Khan, Farhan Saeed, Hania Aamir, Atif Aslam and Mahira Khan.
The award nominations and winners were well-deserved.