Afghan Star

In America or Blighty, X-Factor or Pop Idol exposure can lead to life changing record contracts, or at least lucrative gigs doing birthdays, weddings, pubs and clubs. 

In Afghanistan, contestants reaching the final rounds of Afghan Star can expect either opportunities to travel abroad (men) or persecution and death threats (women). 

As captured in Havana Marking’s engrossing and sweet youth rebellion film, the future of Afghanistan is being fought as much on TV as in the mountains, with self-appointed critics the Mujahideen and Taliban believing the sword is mightier than the pen. 

And the front line is X-Factor knockoff Afghan Star.  Endearingly lo-fi – the venue is a wedding hall, the entire show seemingly powered by one fuse box – it has caught the imagination of 11 million Afghans.  Including an adorable family dubbed the No.1 Fans, who jerry-rig an aerial out of stones and salvaged metal to watch the show. 

That such a programme can now exist reveals how far the country has come since the Taliban rule of 1996 – 2001, when all music and dancing was outlawed. 

But, Afghanistan is still no land of freedom and equality; early eighties archive footage of an apparent tolerant and progressive Kabul shows how thirty years of strife have destroyed the city. 

Focussing on four twentysomething contestants, Marking snaps a cross-section of modern Afghan youth.  The two men, Rafi and Hadeen, become household names.  The two women, the mousy Lima and the strong-willed Setara, face oppression and violence. 

In a country still grounded in strict Sharia law, the tribal elder system prevails despite 60% of the population being under 21. 

The Taliban no longer hold power, but terrorise neighbourhoods with nightly house raids, searching for ungodly belongings (PCs, anything progressive), while the Mujahideen influence government policy. 

And while Afghan Star’s one person one vote system is many Afghan’s first taste of democracy, danger and oppression constantly simmer, bubbling over when Setara dances while performing her number, against Islamic doctrine. 

The resulting shockwaves threaten her life and the show’s future, and that such an innocuous act is regarded as an act of religious protest is a real Western eye opener. 

The winner is apparent from the outset (it’s one of the boys), but the real champions are the Afghan Star producers who are living their dream, despite the occasional nightmare. 

Sobering and cautiously optimistic, Havana Marking’s documentary is a treat. 

Rob Daniel