Enter the new dragon: the Bruce Lee of Afghanistan

Abbas Alizada was nine when he first saw a Bruce Lee film. He fell in love with kung-fu, copying his hero’s moves and his look before an online post shot him to overnight fame.

Abbas was born in Kabul in 1993, the youngest of nine siblings. His family are Hazara, an ethnic minority who have historically faced violence and persecution in Afghanistan, and were partcularly targeted when the Taliban first took power in 1996. During this time, music and movies were banned, and Abbas’ family kept a low profile until the US-led invasion toppled the regime in the early 2000s.

With restrictions gone, Abbas began to see movies for the first time, on a television his uncle would rent for the family. He was nine when he first saw Bruce Lee in kung fu classic Enter The Dragon. He was transfixed by the actor’s kung fu skills, and decided that day that he wanted to be a martial artist. As a teenager, he was enrolled in a local martial arts academy, but when his parents could no longer afford the fees, he continued training by himself at home. For years, he spent hours a day mastering his hero's moves in his basement, watching all of Bruce Lee's movies in slow motion, even teaching himself how to use the iconic fighter's trademark nunchucks.

Abbas was eighteen years old when a friend first pointed out to him that not only could he kick like Bruce Lee, but that he bore an uncanny resemblance to the martial arts legend too. Abbas cut his hair to look like the Fist of Fury star and when his friend uploaded a photo of him posing like Bruce Lee to the internet, it went viral overnight. National and international media descended on the Alizada household to interview this young lookalike with his self-taught mastery of kung fu. Soon, Abbas was being flown all over the Middle East and Asia to star to star in movies, film commercials and perform at festivals.

Abbas married, had kids, and was riding high. But when the Taliban returned to Kabul in 2021, he knew he had a target on his back. Soon, Abbas would be forced to drop everything - and find a way out.

Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Zoe Gelber

Clips: Enter the Dragon / Warner Bros., Concord Productions

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