Kazakhstan Filming Its Own Response To ‘Borat’

Miss Kazakhstan said her country is preparing its own movie in response to “Borat,” the hit comedy that portrayed the Central Asian nation as bigoted and backward.

Gauhkar Rakhmetalieva, a contestant to the Miss Universe beauty pageant, said her government is filming the movie to show the nation’s positive sides.

But she said “Borat” brought much-need publicity to Kazakhstan and there should be no hard feelings.

“In the end we have to understand that it was only a joke,” Rakhmetalieva said ahead of Monday’s Miss Universe pageant in Mexico City. “The advantage is that now our country is world famous. As people are looking toward us, we have the opportunity to show how we really are: a modern country with infrastructure and a very developed culture.”

British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen’s film, which has the full name “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,” won several awards but angered some for its portrayal of Kazakhstan. The movie also poked fun at Americans.