If there’s one thing our industry knows how to do, it’s constantly keeping everyone on their toes with its argumentative accounts and actions, and 2018 was no stranger to controversies. The evolving world of showbiz gave us plenty of startling moments this year, and we’ve compiled some of the biggest ones.
Celebs pick entertainment over national duty
It was a big year in terms of Politics, as we stepped into Naya Pakistan with PM Imran Khan. But it seemed like our celebrities had other priorities at the time of elections. The annual Hum Awards were held around the same time in Canada, which urged prominent figures like Mahira Khan, Humayun Saeed, and many others from our industry to fly off to another continent, before they could cast their votes. This created an uproar within the general public, and a few celebrities like Farhan Saeed and Imran Abbas even called each other out for taking the country’s future for granted.
Read: Farhan Saeed not happy with celebrities for preferring HUM Awards over Elections
The concerned public started a petition to boycott the awards ceremony, while actors like Yasir Hussain and Saheefa Jabbar Khattak came to their fellow actors’ defence, clarifying how they’re all in a contractual situation, and the date of the ceremony was finalised long before the elections. Eventually, the Hum TV team released an official statement, with no apologies in sight.
The MeToo Debacle
Better late than never, Meesha Shafi paved the way for women by bringing up her harassment story. The singer claimed that she had been harassed by Ali Zafar on multiple occasions, which made it one of the biggest oh my god moments of the year. This was followed by several other woman accusing Zafar of the same, but he, subsequently, denied all claims and took matters to court. And while the matter still isn’t resolved, it surely did give women everywhere the courage to open up about their traumatic moments publicly, and call their abusers out.
Read: Ali Zafar denies sexual harassment allegations, takes Meesha Shafi to court
Javed Sheikh’s Awkward Moment Caught on Camera
Earlier in February, the Lux Style Awards were held with extreme fervor. And as Mahira Khan was presented the Best Actress award by Javed Sheikh, the veteran actor tried to kiss Khan on the cheek as she noticeably turned away. The video of this act on loop went viral, and social media had a field day over this. Sheikh became the butt of all jokes in the span of few hours, but the matter subdued when Khan took to twitter to express her aversion. Calling it silly stuff, she defended Sheikh and said she would always vouch for him.
Later this year, Javed Sheikh was asked about this particular awkward moment, and the actor brushed it off saying people blew it out of proportion, and that Khan turned away because somebody called her from the other side. Sounds sketchy, but we’ll take it.
Hira Mani Accused of Glorifying Cheating
Recently re-emerging with her acting chops, Hira Mani was one of the many guests who spilled their hearts out in Samina Peerzada’s talk show. When the topic of her love life came upon, she opened up about her past and how her husband Mani was her close friend’s boyfriend at the time. She gutsily described how she stole his number from her friend’s phone and broke off her own engagement for Mani. This did not sit well with the viewers, as many deemed it as an unethical act of betraying your friends, and violating the girl code. Moreover, they also blamed her for glorifying cheating, and the actress remained under fire for many days to come.
Read: Unapologetically fierce, Hira Mani finally clears the air
Aamir Liaquat’s Second Marriage Made Waves
Prone to staying in the spotlight for one fatuous reason in another, Aamir Liaquat rocked the boat this year by getting married again, and supposedly abandoning his first family. Heavily criticized by the general public, the former TV host was also called out on it by his first wife and daughter, which garnered some sympathy for them from most.
Read: Aamir Liaquat takes an obnoxious jab at Deepika Padukone
The Ko Ko Korina Disaster
This year’s season of Coke Studio was at the peak of fusions, and gathered some hits and misses, the biggest miss of which was Ahad Raza Mir and Momina Mustehsan’s Ko Ko Korina. It was heavily denounced, and people took to every social media platform to troll the duo. Moreover, even politician Shireen Mazari chimed in with her two cents, calling it a horrendous version of the original. This lead Mustehsan to clap back by saying she was being cyber-bullied, which wasn’t the case. The public encouraged the young singer to learn to take criticism, but it started a series of tweets which just added to the entertainment factor the year was keeping up with.
It wouldn’t be wrong to say this year was nothing short of a roller coaster ride. Only time will tell if the upcoming year can match this year’s controversy scale, or nah.
