Kazakh envoy seeks to dispel uncouth Borat image

The movie satirises the United States and pokes fun at a fictional Kazakhstan as a place where people drink fermented horse urine, among other strange behavioural practices.

“I hope I can give you some ideas about what the real Kazakhstan is about, and not the misconceptions provided in the movie by Sacha Baron Cohen,” said Saudabayev, whose government had even threatened a lawsuit over the portrayal last year.

The film, whose full title is Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, was a surprise box-office sensation, grossing $248 million worldwide and earning an Oscar nomination for best adapted screenplay. A village in Romania stood in for Kazakhstan in the film.

British comedian Cohen has also won the Golden Globe for best performance by an actor in a comedy or musical, for playing Borat Sagdiyev, a cluelessly offensive Kazakh journalist with a thick mustache, rumpled grey suit, wild-eyed grin and boisterous catch phrases like “sexy time”!

Saudabayev, who is also Kazakhstan’s ambassador to Canada, touted his Central Asian country’s economic and social progress to the group of about 200 faculty and students, saying it serves as a model for other former Soviet states.

Some students at the Ivy League school said they were impressed. “It changes the perception of Borat because Kazakhstan is not portrayed in the media a lot, so we got a unique perspective from the ambassador,” said Atish Sawant, a first-year student.

But Maria Blackwood, another student, said she understood Cohen’s intent was to poke fun at America, rather than Kazakhstan. “I think I agree with the sentiment that Cohen picked a country that no one would, or the stereotypical American would, be aware of,” she said.