“Dhaka Attack” soars to colossal Box Office opening

Dipankar Dipon's big-budget cop thriller “Dhaka Attack” is living up to its hype and bringing audience in droves to cinemas. In the first two days of release, the film has sold tickets worth a whopping 7.34 crores, bringing its net worth to 1.76 crores within its first weekend. 

The film raked in over 4.5 crores in the opening day, and added 2.84 crores on Saturday amid signs of growing momentum. 

About such stupendous sales, the director of the film, Dipankar Dipon said, “There wasn't any pre-release pressure on anyone about the film making a lot of money. The producers asked for a good film, and that is what we tried to deliver. We're all overjoyed that just in the first weekend we have made such great ticket sales.”

“Compared to countries like India, perhaps our current gross sale is nothing. But when compared to other Bangladeshi films, we have made a new record.”

The heavy demand for tickets has prompted Dhaka's Star Cineplex to add yet another hall for the showing of the film, making it the third theatre in total, with a minimum of three shows per day in all the Cineplex halls combined.

Owner of Madhumita -- one of the oldest cinemas of Dhaka, Md. Iftekher Uddin informed The Daily Star that the hall had three houseful shows on Friday. “The sales are usually this high only during Eid. But 'Dhaka Attack' brought life back to halls with a non-festival release.”

“I have full faith in directors like Dipankar Dipon and Bulbul Biswas,” he added. “If they keep making such cinemas, the industry will soon see a revival.”

The audience review is also overwhelmingly positive on social media, with rave reviews swarming Facebook groups of film buffs. Members of the entertainment industry are also backing the film with words of encouragement. 

The cast and crew of “Dhaka Attack”, who have been visiting the cinema halls of the capital as part of the promotional campaign, are also excited by its success. The film's lead actor Arifin Shuvo said “I am hearing praises and good news everywhere. We have even gone to different halls and spoken to the people. I want this hype to live on for another couple of weeks at least.”

On the other hand, owner of Tiger Media and Ovi Kothachitra – who are distributing the film in Bangladesh, Zahid Hasan Ovi told The Daily Star: “Balaka has made the highest ticket sales on the first day -- a total of 1.85 lakh taka. The second highest sales were made by Mymensingh's Chhayabani cinema hall.”

“We have never seen such high sales other than in Eid releases,” he added.