But the prize is considerable: as well as fame, the winner receives 5,000, which is 10 times the average salary. Rating: . His family thought he was dead because they didnt see him for two days, but his evil plan backfired when he woke up to see his wife, son, and daughter lying dead on the floor. Your comment is After thirty years of Taliban rule, with music, television and most merriment outlawed, one of the runaway successes in that broken land has been these competitions. Take your "American Idol"-besotted children to see this movie. View version history. As the filmmakers point out, for many Afghanis--about 68 percent of whom are under age 25, according to the United National Development Programme--this is a first flirtation with democracy. Available copies. For more on movies, go to www.boston.com/movienation. Imagine this scenario: Instead of winning American Idol in 2005, Carrie Underwood is voted off the show for conduct unbecoming a woman basically, for enjoying herself while singing. Cassette and video players were brought out of hiding and buffed up, while tapes and DVDs were hurriedly bussed in from the exiled Afghan community in Pakistan. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators . Go directly to shout page. In Havana Marking's "Afghan Star," "Pop Idol" comes to Kabul. I can only hope to follow that path. Entertainment is a risky business in Afghanistan. National unity is another common topic - and there is no Simon Cowell-style humiliation. See production, box office & company info, [after Setara adds dance moves to her song], Silencing the Song: An Afghan Fallen Star. View rank on IMDbPro . Refusing to contain her emotions, she moves her body in anticipation of her voice, briefly improvising a modest dance step. D: Would you have done anything differently given another opportunity? Thats simply a case of cultural difference and is beside the point of the film, which is to examine the possibility of a show like this cutting through the regional and tribal differences of the contestants and the people voting for them. 9 Upcoming Movies Of Shah Rukh Khan We Just Cannot Wait For, Anime, Classic Games, And Porn: 6 Weird Things The CIA Found On Osama bin Laden's Hard Drive, Aakash Institute Allegedly Organising A 'Valentine's Day Party' As Per Viral Notice, Management Unaware, Dubai At Night: 6 Spots To Unwind & Chill, Reliance General Insurance's New Campaign For Reliance Health Infinity Policy Is A Quirky Reminder To Seek 'Zyaada Se Bohot Zyaada' & Here's Why We Need It, Is Introducing A Sex Toy To Your Love Life A Good Idea? Ghazals Afghans Mahwash 135 listeners Ghulam Hussain & Haider Gul Ghulam Hussain 1 listener Amank Dionti Ablaye Cissoko 5,134 listeners Show more Shoutbox About This Artist Setara Hussainzada 379 listeners Setara Hussainzada is an Afghan singer who appeared on the third season of "Afghan Star," a popular TV talent show in Afghanistan. The security situation meant that, for fear of kidnap, Marking couldn't set anything up in advance. Heres a case where a little technical panache would have gone a long way toward making the question of who will win as exciting to the viewer of the film as it is to the contestants and the TV viewers. Editor's Note: Afghan Star premieres Thursday, March 18, on HBO. Where to Watch Afghan Star Afghan Star is available to watch free on Kanopy. HM: There are a number of irons in the fire; hopefully, one will come off! Boston.com article page player in wide format. "She brought shame to the Herati people," says a young man on the streets of her home town. Afghan Star-Top7-Setara Hussainzada - YouTube 0:00 / 2:45 Afghan Star-Top7-Setara Hussainzada 282,849 views Feb 9, 2008 See www.afghanstar.tv for more information, or to comment on this. Afghan Star. //-->. Ghazal Music Audition - Afghan Star Season 15, Mahali Music Audition - Afghan Star Season 15, Pop Music Audition - Afghan Star Season 15. To see a woman make such wonderful, beautiful and heart-filled films, be successful and still be a nice person is very inspiring. Our aim is to take peoples minds from weapons to music, says the shows host, Daoud Sediqi, a Ryan Seacrest with actual gravitas. Setara Hussainzada was eliminated first, and while on air she danced without a hijab, receiving death threats as a result. Dont misunderstand. The fact that two made the final 10 suggests a little positive discrimination was employed (judges whittle the numbers down to 10; text-messaging then decides the winner). However, I think the film falls down in its emotional impact mostly due to Markings heavy reliancewhich may have been inevitableon the technically crude footage of the actual show. "If there was no music," a boy too young to remember the Taliban says at the beginning of Marking's film, "humans would be sad. The contestants are kept safe inside the show compound for the duration of the show. Daoud Sadiqi, the affable host and emcee, waves the Taliban away with a snap of his fingers and calls contestants--dancing or not--"just characters I can make a better culture with." Your email address will not be published. To follow him, go to www.twitter.com/tyburr. Better still, it offers the inherent drama of finding out which contestant will win. The most dangerous moment. I also heard she was engaged, which is wonderful news. Your comment is Finally, there was Setara Hussainzada, 22, from Herat in the west of Afghanistan. Music has been caught in the crossfire in Afghanistan for the last 30 years. Did it lead you to other ideas or passions? See here for our terms of service. Luckily, because we were working with Tolo TV, the local TV station that made Afghan Star, we had access to all information from their news teams. A new version of Last.fm is available, to keep everything running smoothly, please reload the site. Backstage, horrified, her fellow contestants' voices are thin when they ask, "Why is she dancing?" It's also available to stream, download and buy on demand at Apple TV. On this audition, the Ghazal fans from all over the country participated to show their talents in order to satisfy the judges for getting a success card which advances them to the next steps of auditions and finally to the top 12. could not find your e-mail or password. The contestants become national celebrities with people campaigning for votes which are cast via SMS. But Lima and Setara, two of only three women out of an original pool of 2,000 contestants, take a far greater risk--by just daring to make themselves visible. It is one of the most disturbing scenes in the film: we see her headscarf slip as she moves - modestly - to the music. Where: Zetigeist. Choon Darakhte Farwardin (Rafi Naabzada) Get this album or track at: 3:14: 6. In March, shortly after leaving her job as a host on the MTV-style music program, she told radio interviewers that there were rumors someone. I chose to go first to the Channel 4 BritDoc Foundation, which gives development funding for feature docs and nurture new talent. Great memorable quotes and script exchanges from the Afghan Star movie on Quotes.net . What's remarkable about Marking's film is not just the stories of these four contestants but the way it captures everyday life in Afghanistan - its street kids, the show's fans, people talking at street stalls. Daoud Sediqi, who presented the first three series, once said that the show's aim was "to take people's hands from weapons to music". Women could sing in public without being whipped. The alarm clock is a hardware device that keeps an idiot at home awake. An eerie silence ensues between sound bites. Author of books "Ken Russell's Films," "Charlie Chan at the Movies," "A Critical Guide to Horror Film Series," "Tim Burton: An Unauthorized Biography of the Filmmaker. Its well made. While HBO should be commended for showing this film, were not the audience that really needs to see it. This country was like a house that no one was living in, says Rafi, implying that the lights are coming on again, one by one. "So we'd just follow the action, turn up, drink tea, wait for the moment to shoot and leave. Although Afghan Star is about pop, the music is very Afghan in character. Add artwork, Do you know any background info about this album? The men have it much easier. I am confident now that I can and do have a way of directing that works. | Countries - Afghanistan, United Kingdom | MPAA Rating - NR Eleven During the 1970s, Kabul had miniskirts, rock concerts and Ahmad Zahir, the Afghan Elvis - still universally popular in the country today, despite dying in a mysterious car accident in 1979. Marking lacks the sense of urgency to pull it all together. The third episode of Afghan Star Season 15 featured the Ghazal auditions. Setara now lives in Kabul with her husband, Yama. Does it include "American Idol"? She has started her life as a mother, still hoping to be a pop-music idol someday. [CDATA[> Quantico, where Marines train before Afghan tours. The Next Big Thing in happy birthday to my ride or die, What NOT to Do in the bell bottom on which app Industry, A Brief Guide on Medicare Insurance Agency. What is this country that youngsters cannot make their voices heard, she despairs. During this time, music was considered disrespectful and sacrilegious but the Mujahideen and the Taliban, respectively. Afghan Star yearns for a divided country to be brought together by the most primal joy of all, yet by the final scenes Setara has been forced into hiding, and since the films release Lima has fled to Pakistan as well. For all of you who hope that, say, Ke$ha would just go away, this movie says be careful what you wish for. I have told her leave singing because you cant be a singer in Kabul.. Afghan Star was directed by Havana Marking and is distributed by Zeitgeist Films. A lady should not be liberal like Setara, said a man in the documentary. Ty Burr can be reached at tburr@globe.com. His family thought he was dead because they didn't see him for two days, but his evil plan backfired when he woke up to see his wife, son, and daughter lying dead on the floor. The governing irony is that one cultures pop junk is anothers salvation.