Umesh kumar Thakur

I was eagerly anticipating this movie as this is perhaps the first time I have ever seen my country of origin Bangladesh be represented on the big screen by Netflix. I was super excited to see Hargrave and Hemsworth’s take on the extremely gritty, and underrated Bangladeshi criminal underworld which is filled to the brim with colourful characters and strange customs. However this film completely misses the mark when it comes to the authenticity of the country it is attempting to highlight. Perhap’s Extraction’s most disappointing downfall is it’s DISTRACTINGLY horrible Bengali, which as a native speaker completely ruins the experience. The Bangladeshi goons speak in disjointed, almost formal syllables where even the delivery of classic swear words is extremely off putting, and the Bengali heard throughout the film (eg. from the Elite police and military) is also very artificial. Priyanshu Painyuli as Dhaka city’s biggest drug lord Amir Asif was the biggest culprit when it came to this. With his absolutely ATROCIOUS delivery of inner city “Dhakaiya” dialect, most of the Indian actor’s delivery was unintelligible, disjointed, and just plain bad (Hemsworth spoke better Bangla in my opinion with “proman dao”, give proof). With his hipster boy haircut and flashy suit, the young, comical Painyuli looks more like a friendly saree seller than an urban metropolis’s formidable boss. Amir Asif was the most disappointing character who looked way too young for the role and did not resemble a drug lord at ALL, much less a ruthless one. Hargrave did Bengalis around the world a great disservice by not working with Bangladeshi actors, nor bothering to consult with an actual Bangladeshi who I guarantee could have improved this film astronomically. This film really had the potential to strike the fear of God into viewers’ hearts with a truly terrifying villain, but fails to tap into this with misguided casting, and wasting the talents of legends such as Pankaj Tripathi. Despite the glaring pitfalls when it came to the antagonist Amir Asif, Hargrave was able to compensate this admirably with beautiful cinematography that captured the claustrophobia of Dhaka’s dense alleyways. Seeing real shots of the Buriganga, and mentioning various important places such as Sultana Kamal bridge was definitely a milestone. The aerial shots of Dhaka at various points throughout the day were breathtaking, and the fight scenes were masterfully choreographed. Hemsworth and Hooda’s physical prowess were definitely highlighted in the super intense fight scenes which definitely caused me to hold my breath. The choice of using children as henchmen also showed the brutal realities of many underprivileged kids in Dhaka. The costumes were also very well designed, and were representative of its wearer’s socio-economic status, with the exception of Amir Asif who looked like a low grade model in his overly ornate getup. Overall, I am happy to see my country be represented on screen, and I applaud the efforts to deliver a fabulous, true to life set in Bangladesh despite being originally filmed in India. However the extensive violence could have been replaced with more meaningful character development for the mercenaries, the drug lords from both countries, better casting with actors who actually spoke the language, and better research into Bangladesh.