Asim Raza 'disheartened' by LSA nominations, questions qualification of its jury

The LSA nominations often cause a stir among celebrities; last year it was Ahmed Ali Butt and Ali Safina who raised an issue, the year before, Bashar Momin and this year it's Asim Raza.

The award show's list of nominees for this year did not go down well with the Ho Mann Jahaan director -- he feels they are not apt. According to Asim, the jury should consist of qualified jury to make such selections.

"All I can say right now is that I am most disheartened to see the list of nominations. First of all I am most intrigued to know who are these jurors who are chosen to judge a complex category like Films & Film Music? Quality and excellence in the field of films cannot be judged by just anyone. It is a specialised field just like any other science if not more complex. These judgements cannot be made on the basis of popularity only. A juror's understanding of this craft needs to be a little higher then that."

He cites examples of Adeel Husain and Shehereyar Munawar for not having been nominated in the Best Actor category.

"In case of Ho Mann Jahaan there are some major shocks which I am still trying to get over. For example, Adeel Husain's name not being there in the lead actor category is a complete shocker for me. Not only in HMJ but even in Dobara Phir Se, he performed remarkably well.

"Similarly, Sheheryar Munawar being put in the Supporting Actor category just because he did not get the girl at the end is beyond my understanding. So are we saying that Leonardo DiCaprio should not be considered as main lead in The Great Gatsby because he also did not get the girl at the end?"

He continued to point out further snubs.

Asim remarked: "HMJ's music album which got celebrated even beyond Pakistan was not found worth a nomination in the male singer category by the LSA jury. From Fakhir's fresh arrangement for Asrar's 'Shakar Wandan' to Atif Aslam's 'Dil Kare', Jimmy Khan's 'Barish', ET's soulful arrangement for Abu Mohamad Farid Ayaz's 'Ghar Nari', Tina Sani's 'Khush Peya Wasse' to Mai Dhai Band, all got ignored."

He asked the film industry to start taking "things a little more seriously" in order to work towards better local cinema.

"We must realise that if we want to make cinema substantial in this country then we need to take it a little more seriously and responsibly. Just filmmakers won't be able to do that job alone. Anyone connected in any way is making a huge impact in conditioning the minds of our audience. Otherwise we should be ready to once again start converting our cinema halls into shopping complexes."

The LSA 2017 nominations came out on March 15.