Dhaka Attack: Why we should watch it

‘Hands-up, police’– this is a typical and sometimes only the role of Police in most Bangladeshi films. Even if the protagonist is a police officer, the story becomes dull under the so-called love story. As a result, how the police actually investigate any malfeasance has been ruefully neglected in Bangladeshi films, until now. For the first time, Dhaka Attack gave precedence to police investigations and operations in Bangladesh. It has indeed been a good move, as cinephiles have been flocking to theatres to watch Dhaka Attack since its release on October 6.

Plot

The story, without revealing too much to the audience, starts with the police searching for sources of some grim activities like murder, bomb blasts and bomb panic around Dhaka city. All the hands of the police force- DB, Swat Team, and Bomb Disposal Unit are called into action to solve the crisis. The audience can see police investigations, planning, missions, follow-up actions up close. In the meantime, they also have a personal life of their own in the struggle to eliminate thousands of crimes. They keep open to their responsibilities, but can also be seen juggling their emotions and personal lives at the same time. This struggle becomes a focal point for Dhaka Attack.

Characters

The main hero of this film is the Bangladesh Police. This is the biggest mark of this film. Every character has different levels of importance in Dhaka Attack, despite it being a hard task to implement. Writer Sunny Sanwar and director Dipankar Dipon gave their full effort to make it possible. However, some characters do end up getting special significance. The major characters can be rounded up to ADC Sajedul (Shatabdi Wadud), Abid Rahman (Arifin Shuvoo) who is in charge of the Bomb Disposal Unit, Ashfaq Ahmed is in charge of Swat Team (ABM Suman), Chaity (Mahiya Mahi) as a crime journalist, while Quazi Nawshaba Ahmed played Ashfaq Ahmed’s wife. Praiseworthy acting skills elevated the role of ADC Sajedul (Shatabdi Wadud) of the Detective Branch, Bangladesh Police. His dialogues during interrogation, meeting with other officials of the operation or the accused- everything seemed like a live, on-screen telecast of Cops. ADC Sajedul is a strategic decision-maker, the talented mind behind the proceedings of other officers, who have been thinking about the investigative steps. All in all, Sajedul is the perfect think tank officer. Dhaka Attack is particularly the biggest turn-point for Arifin Shuvo. In the film, he acted as the In-Charge of the Bomb Disposal Team. His skills and actions were beautifully highlighted. Even in the romantic scenes, Shuvo and Mahi showed beautiful chemistry. As we all know, Arifin Shuvoo is one of the promising actor at present time in Bangladesh film and this film brilliantly cemented him as a worthy actor in the industry. Apart from Arifin Shuvoo, ABM Suman portrayed the In-Charge of Swat Team. He was previously seen in a film titled “Ochena Ridoy”, apart from modelling, but did not get too much success as a film actor. This time, however, Dhaka Attack will surely add a positive force in his career. His character, Ashfaq Ahmed, was mainly reticent but his skills, attitude on screen and actions brought on him all the attention he needed. All in all, he delivered a decent performance that is sure to catch the eyes of the audience. The two important female roles of the film were played by Mahia Mahi and Quazi Nawshaba Ahmed. Mahi’s portrayal of a crime journalist and Shuvo’s on-screen love interest was convincing and their romantic sub-plot added depth to the story without overthrowing interest from the main plot.

Who is the villain?

In Bangladesh, we have a significant lack of well developed villains on-screen. Not all stories can run on typical villains portrayed by Dipjal or Misha Saudagor. The second surprise of Dhaka Attack is Taskeen Rahman, who played the role of Jishan in this film. For the sake of the avoiding spoilers, there’s not much to disclose about his role other than that it was portrayed brilliantly. The mystery lies in Dhaka Attack, which shows what it takes to present a deadly antagonist in films. In the overall analysis, the making of Dhaka Attack demands praise. The story progressed smoothly, transition between scenes were well done. Locations, cinematography, and songs were all excellent. Additionally, background scores always kept the viewers attention in every scene. Dhaka Attack may appear to be an action thriller all in all, but filmmaker Dipankar Dipan didn’t forget to put commercial elements into this film either, with the addition of an item song. In the end, it becomes a film worth watching because it doesn’t blindly follow the typical, aloof storyline but trades the audience with some clarity, originality and most importantly, honest entertainment.