Celebrities, nominees slam PISA 2020 for mismanagement

Nabeel Zafar, Nida Afgan, Adnan Shah Tipu and many others, were nominated and then left behind

KARACHI: The Pakistan International Screen Awards (PISA) 2020, which were set to take place on Friday have received severe criticism for mismanagement.

Bulbulay star Nabeel Zafar took to social media to lash out at PISA for using his name for promotion and then failing to make travel arrangements.



The actor also shared a picture of the invite which showed that he was nominated in the category for Best Actor in a comic role for his performance in Bulbulay. "In my 30-year career, I have rarely been seen on award shows because I don't feel any of them are credible.  I decided to give PISA a chance considering that it was being touted as the first-ever international award showcase and I thought they would hold more credibility than others," Nabeel told The Express Tribune.



He went on to add that the whole ordeal came off as an insult to him. "This is utterly disrespectful.  On one hand, they are using my name to promote the event and on the other, they are not making timely arrangements for a ticket. While all this is happening they flew certain female celebrities on private jets, most of whom are hardly known. This didn’t just happen with me. It happened with several other actors, some of whom are veterans in the industry," he added.

Nadia Afgan who is nominated for Outstanding work as an actress in a comedy role, for her performance in Suno Chanda faced a similar issue. "I feel like if you’re not an Insta star you’re not an Insta star. Aap jitni bhi mehnat karley aap jitney bhi achay actor hoon (No matter how hard you work , how good of an actor you are) its no use if you’re treated like this," Afgan told The Express Tribune.



According to Afghan, she was first notified of the nomination by Body Beat PR while shooting for a TV serial in Bahawalpur. "I had to shift my shooting dates when I was told that I would be flying on 6th February. My husband even booked a ticket for himself to accompany me for the award show", she exclaimed.

Afgan was initially given assurances by the PR company but the organisers ghosted her at the eleventh hour.

"We had to go in the night around 2:30 AM to cancel my husband's ticket. I was so upset and felt so insulted. How can you people do this? First, you nominate me, ask for my documents then keep me hanging on. I even had a dress made by Yosuf Bashir Qureshi. It was such a waste of my time. I feel so angry with these people. I am disgusted by their behaviour.  I didn't ask them to nominate me. I didn't ask them to invite me to Dubai." she said.

Adnan Shah Tipu who was also nominated for his performance in Suno Chanda noted that around 40 people including himself faced the same issue. "Nabeel , Rehan and Hina Dilpazeer. The same happened with all of them. They were all nominated but didn't receive the tickets yet their name  was used in promotion," Tipu said.

"As far as I remember, I have never faced such an issue before. You can call whomever you want that's up to you. Jo log nominees hein unko aap tickets nahi bhej rahay aur jinka iss kaam sey lena dena nahi hai unko aap bula rahay hein (All those that are nominated, you aren't sending them a ticket and those that have nothing to do with it, you are accommodating them)" he said.

Actor Osman Khalid Butt in a twitter post revealed that he along with Ahmed Ali Akber and Saqib Malik were also snubbed for the PISA's at the last minute.

Please add Saqib Malik, Ahmed Ali and me in the list of non-influencer (💔) nominees deprived of private jet pictures.
Seriously, though, the level of disrespect is astounding. None of us were gagging for a Dubai trip, all of us were kept in the dark and on standby till today.

— Osman Khalid Butt 🇵🇸 (@aClockworkObi) February 7, 2020

In response to the outrage, Body Beat PR (BBPR) CEO Hasan Rizvi apologised for the whole ordeal certain nominees had to face.

"There was a complete miscommitment on tickets to our respected guests and celebrities. We did not receive the tickets from the management for multiple reasons, including flights being completely full. However, as BBPR was responsible for contacting the guests please treat this as formal apology for the mismanagement of this. Our intention was never to disrespect any of our guests. We hold each and every one of our guests with the highest regard" Rizvi told The Express Tribune.

He went on to add that PISA was a new platform with teething issues."We hope with time PISA will get bigger and bigger only to shine our country’s name," concluded Rizvi.

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