[1][2] It is the second installment in a planned pentalogy based on the unpublished diaries of Anwar Hashimi,[3] who plays a supporting character in the film.

The film follows the 15-year-old Qodrat (Qodratollah Qadiri), who at the beginning of the movie lives on the streets of 1989 Kabul and gets by on scalping cinema tickets and peddling key rings.

The audience is introduced to the inner life of the stony faced Qodrat in Bollywood-style dream sequences in which he is free to express his feelings for a girl in class or one of his close pals.

[15] Jay Weissberg of Variety magazine called The Orphanage a "clumsy Bollywood re-creation" that "add[s] significant flavor".

[17] Carlos Aguilar of Los Angeles Times, called the film, "an imperfect yet charming blend of Bollywood and Soviet Afghanistan.