Kazakhstan has risen like a mirage

Panoramic view of Astana

Kazakhstan was largely unknown to the outside world until 2006 when the controversial British-American mockumentary comedy film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (simply called Borat) was released. It starred British comic Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat Sagdiyev, a fictitious Kazakh journalist travelling in the US and poked ribald fun at Kazakhs even though it was not filmed in Kazakhstan.

Despite Kazakhstan banning this film, declaring it a national insult, Borat was a roaring commercial success that fuelled a lot of foreign interest in Kazakhstan because millions of viewers had suddenly ‘discovered’ a new country.