The Republic of Kazakhstan was never thrilled with Borat, the 2006 mockumentary that follows the fake misadventures of supposedly Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev. Borat, through his much-imitated but decidedly non-Kazakh garbled Yiddish speech and his even less Kazakh "home village," which was actually in Romania, portrayed the Kazakh people as sexist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, and generally backwards.

But now Kazakhstan is fighting back, if somewhat belatedly, with an unofficial Borat "sequel" designed to cast their country in a more accurate and positive light. "My Brother, Borat" will be directed by Kazakh filmmaker Erkin Rakishev, reports the Agence France-Presse. The mission of the film, which will also be a mockumentary, parallels the original Hollywood hit quite elegantly.

The film -- which centres on the travels of an American Borat superfan who arrives in Kazakhstan expecting a post-Soviet wasteland but finds instead a prosperous petro-state -- will combat negative stereotypes, the director said.

"We want to ride on the wave of success of Borat, to take advantage of this popular image in the West to show people the real Kazakhstan, not [Borat star Sacha] Baron Cohen's Kazakhstan," Rakishev told Kazakh tabloid Kazakhstanskaya Pravda.

The AFP describes Kazakhstan's self image as "a fast-changing modern nation which is the economic engine of Central Asia and the region's political and economic leader." The film is planned for 2011 release.

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