Atif Aslam is arguably one of Pakistan’s biggest superstars. You can hate his extremely offbeat sense of style, his videos or his brand of pop music (or love them), but he is a superstar no doubt. And for sceptics like myself – who cringe when Atif’s songs begin playing at cafes on popular demand – there was a complete silencing of doubts at the night of the Pond’s Ensemble Spring/Summer 09 show, held in Karachi as a fundraiser for the Teachers Resource Centre (TRC).
His performance kicked off on a high note and as he walked out on to the fashion runway, dressed entirely in tuxedo white with a Rizwan Beyg clad Hadiqa Kiyani, he had the crowd screaming with delight. The rest of the night was a blur of groupie-like hysteria, as socialites and celebrities alike decided to shed the prevailing sense of doom and gloom (as well as any inhibitions) in the country to literally dance the night away to Atif Aslam’s music. The kind of hysteria his performance evoked was nothing short of remarkable: at any concert that has such a heavy socialite/corporate presence, it is extremely difficult to stir up the crowd. But not this crowd, as this crowd was fixated by the man who had moved the masses.
