Extraction is a fictional 2020 action film, not a documentary portrait of Bangladesh. But its imagined Dhaka drew criticism from Bangladeshi actors and filmmakers over the language, setting, and cultural details on screen—and over how a crime thriller can shape international impressions of a real country.
What is Extraction about, and why did its Bangladesh setting draw criticism?
Netflix describes Extraction as a 2020 action film about a gun-for-hire sent to Bangladesh to rescue a kidnapped boy, and catalogs it among movies based on books. Its plot is fictional; the criticism is about the choices used to make that fiction look and sound like Bangladesh.
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Bangladeshi contributors and critics objected to the film’s imagined Dhaka: how much of it was recreated elsewhere, whether its Bangla and accents sounded local, and whether the streets, music, and festival details felt recognizable. Those are attributed judgments, not proof that every scene is inaccurate or a comprehensive scene-by-scene fact-check. Netflix’s film listing
Was Extraction actually filmed in Dhaka?
Accounts agree that much of the Dhaka material was recreated outside Bangladesh, but they describe the production in different ways. They should not be collapsed into a precise percentage of filming done in Bangladesh.
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- When a terrorist group kidnaps retired CIA field operative Leonard Turner (Bruce Willis), his son Harry Turner (Kellan Lutz), a government analyst who has been repeatedly turned down for field service, launches his own unsanctioned rescue operation. While evading highly skilled operatives, deadly assassins, and international terrorists, Harry finally puts his combat training to the test in a high
- The Daily Star: reported that the film was not shot in Dhaka apart from a few drone shots over the Buriganga, and that streets were recreated in Ahmedabad. The Daily Star’s report
- Tariq Anam Khan: the actor told Prothom Alo that the main portion had already been filmed when a small B-unit came to Bangladesh for aerial and street scenes. He also criticized the film’s Bangla: “The Bangla language they have used in ‘Extraction’ is not of Bangladesh.” Khan’s interview with Prothom Alo
- Raffael Ahsan: the filmmaker told Dhaka Tribune that sets were created in Ahmedabad and Thailand. Ahsan’s interview with Dhaka Tribune
The shared point is extensive recreation abroad; the reports differ in scope and detail. A few location shots do not establish that the film’s broader cityscape is an accurate picture of Dhaka.
Did the Bangla and accents sound Bangladeshi?
Language was one of the clearest points of disagreement. Khan said the Bangla was not the variety spoken in Bangladesh and argued that local performers could have played Dhaka residents.
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Suraj Rikame, who played Farhad, said the actors had a dialogue coach, but that reproducing the Bangladeshi accent was harder than learning the lines. He told Dhaka Tribune: “I tried my hardest.” He also said: “But I do wish there were more time for us to prepare; perhaps then, we could have gotten the accent a little less wrong.” Rikame’s interview with Dhaka Tribune
Ahsan said he raised concerns about the accent and rewrote some Bangla dialogue, while the production prioritized other considerations. Together, these accounts indicate that coaching and consultation took place, but that local participants still considered the result inadequate. They do not establish that every line or performance was wrong.
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Which visual and cultural details did critics question?
Criticism focused on details viewers may use to decide whether a fictional city feels locally grounded. These observations come from named critics and coverage, rather than an independent audit of every frame.
- Signs and writing: critic Fahmidul Haq pointed to Hindi street signs and Bangla wording on a CNG rickshaw that he found unconvincing. The Daily Star’s coverage
- Transport and police vehicles: The Daily Star acknowledged the film’s recreated rickshaws, wall art, and CNG vehicles while reporting complaints about transport and police-car details.
- Music: critics objected to the use of Hindi songs. Director Redwan Rony framed the issue this way: “Dhaka-dwellers do not speak Bangla that way, they do not listen to Hindi songs of 90’s all day, the law enforcement agencies do not die in a herd to save any ‘godfather’.” Rony’s remarks in Prothom Alo
- Color and atmosphere: The Daily Star reported criticism of the city’s bleak, yellow, dusty look. This is an aesthetic judgment about the film’s visual choices, not a claim that Dhaka has no dusty or bleak streets.
- Pahela Baishakh: Haq also questioned the timing or presentation of the Bengali New Year festival and its accompanying music. His comments reflect a critic’s reading of the sequence, not a universal verdict among Bangladeshis.
The distinction matters: a production can include recognizable objects and still arrange them in ways some local viewers consider generic, misplaced, or misleading.
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Why did the portrayal matter beyond set accuracy?
Some of the reaction came from the scale of the opportunity. Bangladeshis were excited to see Dhaka represented in a major international action film, but some felt the result offered a negative or generalized image. Rony’s comments connect that disappointment to expectations about how Dhaka residents speak, what they listen to, and how law enforcement is represented.
Ahsan described the reaction as understandable while also making a case for Bangladesh’s ability to represent itself internationally. That debate is not a single national consensus: it brings together concerns about who gets to portray Dhaka for a global audience, the creative freedom of filmmakers, and the consequences when a crime-thriller setting is mistaken for a portrait of a country.
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Does Dhaka really look like it does in Extraction?
The available production accounts say much of the film’s Dhaka was recreated in Ahmedabad and Thailand, with limited shooting in Bangladesh described differently by the sources. Local actors and critics also raised concerns about accent, signs, transport, music, and festival details. That supports a qualified answer: the film constructs a fictional action setting using some Dhaka references, but the cited accounts and criticisms do not establish it as a reliable representation of the city or Bangladesh.
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