KZBlog

Jantik, a DJ in Almaty, showed up at the London premire of Borat’s film in London, dressed in traditional Kazakh robes and claimed to be Borat’s brother. Apparently he came late, without a ticket, and was refused admission. Most British papers are picking up on this aspect of it, which will sadly give people more reason to laugh at Kazakhs, though they should realize that disregard for formal measures of time is an important part of Kazakh culture!

The BBC coverage of the opening is here and has this to say about Jantik:

Real-life Kazakh TV star Jantemir Baimukhamedov – also known at Jantik – arrived at the premiere to give his “brother” Borat some “horse-meat sausages” from home.

He arrived on the red-carpet in a black fur hat and full Kazakh national costume, flanked by Borat’s “mother and relative”, who were wearing equally eye-catching clothes.

But they were quickly and politely escorted away by officials when it transpired they did not have a ticket.

The Navi.kz (link in Russian) article goes into a bit more detail. Apparently Jantik brought eggs (a common euphemism for testicles) with him, claiming Borat had lost them in school when they were cut off. He also said the reason Borat couldn’t come to let his “brother” in was that he was busy with a frozen penis. Apparently he felt he could out-shock the shock comic. Navi concludes that this is the last thing Kazakhstan needs right now. While Zhantik professes to follow the higher road of Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to Britain, Idrissov, who said the film was kind of funny but basically toilet humor, that it had nothing to do with Kazakhstan, and that government reactions to repress Cohen were ultimately hurtful, in fact he shows that he “doth protest too much.” This is something Jantik had apparently been planning for a long time, and the BBC article does sort of paint him as obsessed with Borat.

His press-conference in London where he tried to speak the truth about Kazakhstan was poorly attended. But maybe he didn’t advertise well the fact that there would be free khazi, horsemeat sausage. That alone was worth coming out for.

Frankly I’m disapointed it didn’t turn out better (And so is Navi.kz). It was a good idea. Bringing apashka was an awesome move, and free horsemeat sausage was a nice touch. It was something fun in place of economic and social-political statistics. Perhaps Idrissov would agree to an open day at the Embassy where Kazakh goodies are served, and everyone wears traditional dress. Perhaps a demonstration of Kazakh horse skills and other fun stuff…