If you grew up in 1990s Georgia, you know the drill. The VHS tape was worn, the dubbing was rough, and the translation was often done by someone who sounded like they were reading a shopping list in a bunker. But none of that mattered when Jean-Claude Van Damme started doing the splits between two chairs.

wasn’t just an action movie. In Georgia, it became a cult legend — or as we’d say, kulturi filmi . The Plot (As We Remember It) Kurt Sloane (JCVD) wants revenge on Tong Po, a brutal Muay Thai fighter who paralyzed his brother. The training montages? Iconic. The final fight? Bloody. But the real magic was watching it Qartulad — in Georgian dubbing so wild it became performance art. Why the Georgian Dub Matters In the chaotic post-Soviet years, Western movies arrived on bootleg VHS with homemade translations. One guy (sometimes drunk, always passionate) would translate every punch and line of dialogue live into Georgian. No subtitles. No professional studios. Just pure, unfiltered gagma (dubbing).

Here’s a short blog post in English about Kickboxer (1989) with a Georgian (“Qartulad”) angle, as requested. Kickboxer (1989) Qartulad – When 80s Action Met Georgian VHS Culture

(Cheers, Kurt Sloane!)