The world we live in is burdened with over-information. A new fad surfaces every three days and a new trend makes headlines. There is such a perpetual deluge of fascinating tidbits, controversial statements, overhyped launches and meme-worthy celebrity exchanges that there is very little that makes a long-lasting impact.

A star or a project may be a toast of the month — or perhaps, a week or even a day! — before getting replaced by another hot topic. But there are still some powerful performers and memorable projects that manage to become ‘it’ — rather than a fleeting hit — all year round.

In 2023, there have been Pakistani celebrities who have become global sensations, projects that have ruled TV ratings and YouTube, songs that have become all-time hits and fashion that has bravely eschewed retail-friendly mediocrity in favour of pushing the creative envelope.

Here are some who made the cut:

Wahaj Ali

Actor Wahaj Ali is as ‘it’ as can be. He had already been making his mark in the past few years with dramas such as the Ramazan romance Ishq Jalebi and the tragic Jo Biccharr Gaye. His stardom shot to new heights this year courtesy a brooding hero called Murtasim Khan, in the hit drama Tere Bin.

Wahaj epitomised the feudal lord with his heart on his sleeve, with a predilection for cheesy flirtations and smouldering gazes, and made his audiences swoon with even a suggestive dunk in a swimming pool! Pakistani social media gushed, so did its counterpart in India, and by the end of the year, he was the only Pakistani celebrity to be slotted within the top 10 of UK-based publication Eastern Eye’s rundown of 2023’s top 50 Asian stars.

Icon presents the ‘IT’ list of powerful performers and memorable projects that managed to keep the spotlight onthemselves all through 2023. These are global sensations, projects that ruled TV ratings and YouTube,hit songs that captured the soundwaves and fashion that pushed the creative envelope…

The success of Tere Bin was followed by two more dramas — Mujhe Pyar Hua Tha and Main — a mini-series, Jurm, a leading role in an anthology film: Teri Meri Kahaniyaan, and a multitude of brand collaborations. And even though he is yet to take any more dunks in the pool, he already has a widespread audience eating from the palm of his hand.

Yumna Zaidi

The crazed mania that Yumna Zaidi inspires is unprecedented. She plays a coquettish, arrogant female lead in the drama Tere Bin and she trends on X; the trailer of her upcoming movie Nayab releases and she trends again; she simply bats her eyelids and there she is again, trending at number one!

And should Yumna’s extensive fan base feel that she has been wronged in any way, they are all set to draw blood. At a time when new actors and new projects are launched every few weeks, such love and loyalty from a committed audience is rare.

And then Yumna went on to win two Lux Style Awards this year — both Viewers’ Choice and Critics’ Choice — for her brilliant performance in the drama Bakhtawar, thereby becoming the actress to have won the most awards in the TV category.

Her acting prowess is undeniable but, more than that, it is Yumna’s knack for choosing scripts, balancing critically acclaimed roles with more mass-oriented ones, which singles her out.

If her name is in the cast of a drama, it is generally assumed that the story is going to be a good one. She may have been ‘it’ this year but, beyond ratings and awards wins, this actress is here for the long haul.

Tere Bin

Tere Bin was the ‘it’-most drama of the year, even if you don’t understand why. The script may have been littered with plot-holes and you may have wrung your hands while enduring elongated tragic sequences but, despite its oddities and its dramatic twists, producers Abdullah Kadwani and Asad Qureshi managed to spin a story that had the audience hooked.

And what an extensive audience it was! Tere Bin would trend on YouTube in Pakistan and then, it would proceed to also hit the #1 most viewed spot in India. Dialogues would get quoted again and again, memes would be made based on specific scenes, distressing developments in the plot would have social media reeling for days and the chemistry of the two main characters, Murtasim and Meerub, enacted by Wahaj Ali and Yumna Zaidi, has lead to the creation of an all-new, very popular hashtag on social media: #YumHaj!

Grand sets, a star cast, oodles of romance and loads and loads of drama — Tere Bin ruled TV all through most of 2023.

Hania Aamir

Hania Aamir’s ‘it’-ness truly took off in 2022, when she played an innocent, much-tortured girl called Hala in the ARY Digital drama Mere Humsafar. The actress had been popular before this but, post-Hala, she became an audience favourite, followed on social media worldwide, discussed not just in entertainment-based talk shows in Pakistan but also in India.

Inevitably, brands also made a beeline for her, which is why you’ve probably seen Hania Aamir trying to sell you a plethora of products all through this year!

There’s the added advantage that Hania isn’t your typical boring leading lady, scared of getting social media talking. There’s never a dull day on Hania’s very colourful Instagram page; she’ll be dancing at a wedding, travelling the world, singing Bollywood numbers on high pitch with her friends, laughing while making silly cooking videos or even getting gossip mills churning in her friendly interactions with Indian rapper Baadshah.

All this perpetually keeps Hania in the news — even when a project of hers isn’t even on air!

Ushna Shah

Ushna Shah is a force to reckon with when she aligns herself with a cause! This year, the actress felt that she had to do whatever she could in order to raise awareness regarding the genocide in Gaza. She took to her various social media platforms, utilising her considerable clout to inspire others to also start making noise online.

To this day, she never shies away from tweeting updates on the war in Gaza, retweeting heartbreakingly sad videos and images and urging her audience to continue calling out the “most widely documented genocide in the history of mankind.” While doing so, her reach on social media has decreased considerably due to shadow bans, but this has not deterred her.

Celebrities are generally known to bandwagon on to a cause simply because it is trending, but some of them have been hesitant about speaking out about Gaza because it could lead to shadow bans on Instagram, leading to them losing out on revenue earned through online endorsements.

Ushna, though, is clearly not a bandwagoner — she’ll follow her heart and do what she feels is right even if that means that she’ll lose out on future brand collaborations or opportunities for international work.

Her acting repertoire may be impressive but the person that she is — the efforts that she has made — has garnered her an even bigger fan following.

Bilal Abbas Khan

Bilal Abbas Khan is a veritable chameleon, flitting through a series of diverse roles and refraining from over-exposing himself by picking and choosing the projects that he aligns himself with.

This year, Bilal was the recipient of the Best TV Actor Male Lux Style Award in the critics’ category. He was also seen in two very different roles: playing the reliable boy-next-door in the drama Kuchh Ankahi and then, the influential political heir pretending to be a village bumpkin in Ishq Murshid.

What sets him apart from other contenders in his field is his careful selection of roles and, of course, his sheer talent. Bilal Abbas Khan won’t make controversial statements in interviews or do kooky antics in Instagram reels, but he is a brilliant actor. That makes him very ‘it’, always.

Jemima Khan

Jemima Khan may no longer live in Pakistan but she has always been openly nostalgic while talking about her time spent in the country. Her experiences and her fond memories came to life in what she termed as her “love letter to Pakistan”: the movie What’s Love Got To Do With It, written and co-produced by her.

A large part of the movie revolved around the hustle bustle of Lahore: a rooftop restaurant overlooking the Badshahi Mosque, the winding lanes of a Lahori bazaar and the colours and festivity of a desi Lahori wedding. The movie, which also included actress Sajal Aly in its cast, quite ostensibly showcased the beautiful, endearing side to Pakistan rather than the usual terrorism-infested images projected by Western media.

It is very rare for producers and directors from the first world to make the effort to project us in a more nuanced, sensible way — Jemima Khan surely did so.

Jemima has always been a favourite amongst Pakistani masses — whether she likes it or not, they have dubbed her as their ‘bhabi’ for all times to come! Perhaps this movie only managed to treble her popularity.

Hadiqa Kiani

Hadiqa Kiani is iconic, not just because she is one of Pakistan’s most enduring female pop vocalists or because of her recent impressive forays into acting, but also because of her commitment to do all that she can for causes that touch her.

In 2022, Hadiqa decided to dedicate herself to the rehabilitation of certain areas in Balochistan that had been ravaged by floods that year. This year, through her campaign Vaseela-i-Raah, she has continued with her efforts. Sporadically, she has posted updates on social media, putting up images and videos of villages slowly coming back to life, once again having been equipped with homes, clinics, schools and mosques.

Professionally also, Hadiqa is associated with high-end projects — a music video of hers will always be visually appealing and her acting roles are never typical, allowing her the chance to push the envelope and put her skills to test. Beyond show business, though, Hadiqa the woman is equally inspirational, if not more.

Kabuli Pulao

Even if you don’t watch Pakistani TV dramas, you couldn’t possibly not have heard of Kabuli Pulao. The drama, which aired on Green Entertainment, became colossally popular despite not having a conventional, ‘mass-friendly’ storyline.

Focusing on the marriage between an older man and a much younger woman, Kabuli Pulao has been lauded as the ray of light that Pakistani TV has needed so very direly, testament to the fact that you don’t always need to rely on a conventional romance in order to draw the audience’s attention.

Directed brilliantly by Kashif Nisar, written by Zafar Mairaj and with a powerful ensemble cast that included Mohammed Ehteshamuddin, Sabeena Farooq and Nadia Afgan, this was the unexpected ‘it’ hit that we all need to celebrate.

Sabeena Farooq

The year 2023 can be marked as the year when Sabeena Farooq floated into the spotlight — and decided that she would stay there! The actress has been working for some years now, but it was with the dramas Tere Bin and then Kabuli Pulao that she became an audience favourite.

In Tere Bin, she played the main antagonist and, while she immediately became a very familiar face, she was also the unfortunate recipient of the outpouring of hate that came from the drama’s obsessive fans. Soon afterwards, though, Sabeena proved her mettle in the drama Kabuli Pulao, playing a completely different character.

Wide-eyed, head covered, wearing no make-up and stuttering in half-Pashto half-Urdu, she became known as Barbeena, the drama’s subdued, well-meaning female lead.

Very talented and intent on selecting her future projects carefully, Sabeena has quickly spiralled up into the top league of Pakistan’s young actresses.

Hasnain Lehri

Hasnain Lehri has long been one of the country’s most well-known male models but, this year, recognising the need to explore other avenues, he made a splash by making his screen debut on Netflix!

Hasnain was featured in the second season of the popular Netflix reality show Dubai Bling, as the love interest of Lebanese star Loujain ‘LJ’ Adada. Making his entry in the seventh episode of the show, he cut a very savvy figure of the Pakistani man, speaking well and dressed in suits by local designer Ismail Farid!

A debut on a platform as prestigious as Netflix is a big deal and the cliffhanger at the end of the season’s last episode showed Hasnain proposing to Loujain. Her response to the proposal has not been shown — which means that we’re very likely to see him yet again in season three!

Kaifi Khalil

Pakistan’s music scene is buzzing, with new acts entering the fray, Indie-inspired music making waves and plenty of concerts dotting the yearly calendar. But while there are plenty of young musicians who are now immensely popular, none of them is yet to match the mass hysteria that Kaifi Khalil inspires.

The young Kaifi may only have two major songs to his credit so far — Kana Yaari from Coke Studio 2022 and his own single, Kahani Suno, which became huge across the border as well — but he is loved whole-heartedly and well-known, not just amongst young music aficionados but also their parents and even grandparents!

Everyone really is rooting for this unassuming young boy from Lyari who’s made it big and is happily making his dreams come true.

Tabesh Khoja

You can’t overestimate the power wielded by fashion stylists. They are the brains behind the glamorous images you see at a fashion shoot or a fashion show and the saviours of celebrities who would otherwise be strutting about the red carpet enveloped in desi bling.

The rise of social media and the proportionate mushrooming of online trolls has ensured that designers and stars have become more conscious of the images that they project and, consequently, a number of stylists are now well-known in Pakistan’s entertainment industry. Among them, Tabesh Khoja stands out the most.

Working individually as a stylist and art director and also a part of the team at Nabila’s Salon, Tabesh is simply everywhere and has worked with everyone. He’ll be at a deserted beach, overlooking an elaborate bridal-wear campaign one day and, on the very next day, he’ll be guiding a befuddled celebrity on how to ooze glamour in a gown.

The mastermind behind some of the most well put-together looks that you see throughout the year, he’s a well-known stylist to the stars — who has become quite the star himself!

Fahad Hussayn

Designer Fahad Hussayn walks off the beaten track, daring to be creative, when his peers are focusing on safe, commercially viable fashion, making the effort to add in experimental details in a design himself when many other ateliers have chosen to take it easy by delegating work to a design team.

You won’t see a pattern lifted off Pinterest in a Fahad Hussayn creation or a design that uncannily reminds you of something similar you may have seen on an Indian runway. Fahad may want to earn profits — which is why he has diversified towards priced-down unstitched formals and funky lawns — but he also doesn’t want to give up on his love for design.

His originality and his very creative shoots are getting noticed more and more — especially since most other brands are happy churning out repetitive clothes that may make money but don’t really introduce anything new to the fashion scene.

Khaadi

Twenty-five years since its inception, Khaadi is a high-street heavyweight that has become synonymous with Pakistan’s identity. And while many other brands venture into the market every year, the Khaadi customer remains a loyal one.

They remember the brand to be one that revolutionised Pakistani ready-to-wear, introduced capsule lines separately for accessories and for unstitched fabric, went back to its roots with a minimal, fashion-forward Chapter Two, has outlets dotted across the country and continues to improvise and expand every year.

This year, reinvented Khaadi ‘experience hubs’ (to enhance the shopping experience) opened up in major cities in Pakistan, two new international outlets were launched in Birmingham and Manchester and, at the other end of the spectrum, a newly launched sister-concern called Kanteen, opened in Karachi’s Dolmen City Mall, serving street food, but with a twist.

In a very crowded market for high-street, Khaadi still manages to attract a crowd of its very own.

Ali Gul Pir

Ali Gul Pir’s the guy you want to follow on social media when you’re just about done despairing over Pak­is­tan’s perpetually dismal political and social climate.

And if you’re resigned to the perpetual tone-deaf blunders made by celebrities and politicians. And if you feel disillusioned even by the cricket team. You’re so tired of it all that you just want to throw your head back and laugh at the ridiculousness of it all.

Ali Gul Pir will do it with you. He’ll throw a dupatta over his head and pretend to be female (a moustachioed one, mind you!) making dumb comments on politics. He’ll play a reporter and navigate the deep trenches dug up all over Karachi’s DHA area, making the insane suggestion that this is the city’s way of preparing for an incoming cyclone. He’ll pick up clips trending on social media — of weddings, interviews, anything, everything — and give them a hilarious spin.

In these dismal times, a bit of laughter served out so well by Ali Gul Pir can make the situation a little less ugly, for some time at least.

Published in Dawn, ICON, December 31st, 2023