ASTANA, Kazakhstan — Kazakhstan is finally seeing the funny side of Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Borat,” after cashing in on a tourist boom inspired by the British comedian’s magnificently-mustachioed adventurer.
The Central Asian nation reacted with fury when “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” hit the screens in 2006, and banned it from being shown.
But with visa applications up tenfold, Foreign Minister Erzhan Kazykhanov admitted that maybe the “mockumentary” was not quite such a disaster after all, Kazakh news website Tengri News reported.
“Since the movie hit the screen, the number of visas [for those wanting to travel to Kazakhstan] has grown tenfold. For us, it is a great victory. I am grateful to the [spoof journalist] Borat, the main character of the movie, for tourists’ keen interest to Kazakhstan,” Kazykhanov told lawmakers Monday.
Kazakhstan is still struggling to shake off the spell of “Borat,” as evidenced last month when the movie’s spoof anthem was accidentally played during a medal ceremony at a shooting championship in Kuwait.
“I would treat the movie from the philosophical point of view,” the foreign minister said.