Login

RTDoc features original series and films on the most intriguing cultural, historical, environmental and human interest stories from around the world, as well as exclusive documentaries about Russia, produced in-house by RT.
RTDoc’s creations have won international prizes such as Media Excellence and New York Festivals Awards, and gained a strong following amongst cable providers worldwide.

Subscribe About us / Contact us
Add to favorites

Tokal

26:01

A Tokal is an additional wife in a polygamous Kazakh marriage. Only a decade ago, to have a tokal in Kazakhstan was considered shameful. Nowadays though, polygamy is gaining popularity throughout the country, becoming a more common-place and accepted practice. Some see it as normal matrimony that’s blessed by God, others as a mutually beneficial marriage of convenience. Even though polygamy is technically illegal in Kazakhstan, having more than one wife is a widespread practice among the rich. They see it as a right enshrined in the Koran and will often decide to take an extra wife, a tokal, without consulting the first. Usually a younger woman, a Tokal is expected to bear children for her older husband, a capability that the older first wife may have lost. This documentary focuses on the stories of people who had a first-hand experience with the practice of polygamous marriage: a husband dreaming of having over 30 kids; a mother, looking for a man to help raise her children; a proud wife, refusing to share her husband with his new tokal. And together with Kazakh writer Ayan Kudaikulova this film tries to determine whether a polygamous marriage can also be a happy one or two or more!

3 Details
Author Aleksandr Svyazin
Director Pavel Burnatov
HD
2014
Available in Russian, with English subtitles,
in Spanish and Arabic languages