Kandagar

2010 Russian film directed by Andrey Kavun

Kandagar

Film poster

Directed by| Andrey Kavun
Screenplay by| Andrey Kavun
Produced by|

* Valeriy Todorovskiy
* Ilya Neretin

Starring|

*     * Aleksandr Baluev
* Vladimir Mashkov
* Andrei Panin

Edited by| Gabriella Cristiani
Music by| Richard Horowitz
Darin Sysoev

Release date

* 4 February 2010 (2010-02-04)

Running time

| 103 minutes
Country| Russia
Languages| Russian
Dari
Budget| $7 million
Box office| $15 million

Kandagar (Russian: Кандагар; also known as Kandahar) is a 2010 Russian historical action film detailing the escape of a Russian crew from the captivity of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan in 1996. The film stars some of Russia's most famous actors, Vladimir Mashkov, Andrei Panin and Alexander Baluyev.[1] The movie is based on the Russian pilot Vladimir Sharpatov's diary.[2] The film was released in Russia on April 4, 2010.[3] The Andrey Kavun film is the first to depict Russians in Afghanistan after the Soviet withdrawal from the country.[1]

## Background

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On August 3, 1995 a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 from the Taliban's air force forced down a Russian Ilyushin Il-76 plane with seven Russian nationals on board. The aircraft was forced to land at a Taliban controlled airfield near Kandahar. The men were held prisoners for more than one year by the Taliban which controlled about half of Afghanistan at the time during the Afghan Civil War. The movie follows their captivity, day-to-day survival, and escape from Taliban.

Unexpected negligence from Russian diplomats caused the prisoners to take steps toward their freedom themselves. The captain was forced to teach Taliban fighters to fly the plane, and the rest of the hostages were allowed to visit their aircraft for maintenance.

At some point the Russian crew worked out the escape plan, and during one of the maintenance visits for landing gear work, they were able to gain control over the plane.[4] Despite interception efforts by Taliban base guards, which caused the aircraft to start the takeoff having only half of the runway, they were able to take off. Despite several technical difficulties immediately after takeoff, they finally gained a safe cruising altitude and speed.

## Cast

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* Aleksandr Baluev – Vladimir Ivanovich Sharpatov, pilot
* Vladimir Mashkov – Serega, co-pilot
* Andrei Panin – Alexander Gotov, navigator
* Alexandr Golubev – Vitek, boardwriter
* Bohdan Beniuk – Roman Vakulenko, flight engineer
* Aleksandr Robak – Mark

## See also

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* The 9th Company

## References

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1. ^ a b Bratersky, Alexander (9 February 2010). "Afghan Escape Film 'Kandahar' Pulls in Crowds". The St. Petersburg Times. Archived from the original on 14 February 2010. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
2. ^ Sergei L. Loiko and Megan K. Stack (12 February 2010). "Q & A with Russian film director Andrey Kavun". LA Times. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
3. ^ kandagarfilm (2010). "kandagar film". kandagarfilm.ru. Archived from the original on 9 December 2010. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
4. ^ Associated Press (19 August 1996). "Daredevil airmen receive warm homecoming". The Register-Guard. Retrieved 10 August 2010.[permanent dead link‍]

## Notes

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## External links

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* Kandagar at IMDb
* Official site