The Dhallywood film industry has witnessed a compelling journey in the history of Bangladeshi cinema. The cinematic endeavors have resonated with the audiences and left an indelible mark on the Dhallywood box office. This article presents an exploration of the highest-earning Bangladeshi films to date. Let’s get a snapshot of Bangladeshi movies that have etched their names on the hearts of this film-loving nation. Top 10 Dhallywood Box Office Toppers of All Time Priyotoma | Tk 41.23 Crore Priyotoma', produced by Arshad Adnan under the banner of Versatile Media, has carved its name in the domestic romantic action genre. Directed by Himel Ashraf, the film tells a tragic love story that leaves an indelible mark on audiences. The narrative was penned by the late Faruk Hossain, with Himel Ashraf contributing to the screenplay and dialogues. The film features Shakib Khan, the highest-paid leading actor in Bangladesh, and Idhika Paul, a small-screen actress from Kolkata. Upon its release on June 29, 2023, 'Priyotoma' made a resounding impact by collecting BDT 10 crore in its first week, exceeding its budget of BDT 2.5 crore.  Notably, this cinematic masterpiece holds several box office records, standing as the highest-grossing Bangladeshi film of 2023 and all time. The film's excellence is further underscored by its recognition at the 22nd BABISAS (Bangladesh Binodon Sangbadik Samity) Awards. There it received nine awards, including Best Actor and Best Actress in the Special Honors category. Read more: List of English Language Netflix Originals Coming in November 2023 Beder Meye Josna | Tk 20 Crore Directed and written by Tozammel Haque Bokul, this classic remains a shining example of storytelling that transcends generations. 'Beder Meye Josna' draws inspiration from a rural Bangla play of the same name, delving into a love story between a gypsy girl and a prince. Released on June 9, 1989, the film starred Ilias Kanchan and Anju Ghosh. Notably, the movie's budget stood at a humble BDT 20 lakh, a far cry from the blockbuster budgets of today. Nevertheless, 'Beder Meye Josna' emerged as a financial titan, becoming the highest-grossing Bangladeshi film until the year 2023. A survey conducted by the British Film Institute recognized this cinematic gem, ranking it among the top 10 films of Bangladesh. The audio cassette of the film's songs sold one lakh copies within a month of its release. Written by Hasan Motiur Rahman and sung by Mujeeb Pardes, the song 'Ami Bondi Karagare' remained on people's lips for the next few decades. Except for this, the rest of the songs were penned by the director, Tozammel Haque Bokul. The melodious tunes, including the title song 'Beder Meye Josna,' sung by Andrew Kishore and Runa Laila, cemented its immortality in the world of Bangladeshi cinema. Read more: Coke Studio Bangla concert to return with an ensemble line-up on Nov 10 at Army Stadium Shopner Thikana | Tk 19 Crore 'Shopner Thikana,' directed by MA Khalek, offers a window into the legacy of legendary hero Salman Shah. The film, which was scripted by Chatku Ahmed, takes its inspiration from a story by Nurul Islam Parvez. Released on May 11, 1995, 'Shopner Thikana' featured Shabnoor and Sonia as Salman Shah's lead co-artists. 'Shopner Thikana' presented a compelling narrative centered around the dynamics of rich-poor relationships and love triangles. Almost all of the cinema's songs, including 'Ae Din Se Din Koni Din,' acquired top positions of the radio charts. All thanks to the creative genius of renowned composer and music director Late Alam Khan. Hawa | Tk 16 Crore 'Hawa' stands as a unique mystery-drama film that weaves a tale based on a myth. The production company, Sun Music and Motion Pictures Limited released the cinema on July 29, 2022. Read more: ‘In time we will say more’: Friends stars say after Matthew Perry’s death There was an ensemble cast under the direction of Mejbaur Rahman Sumon. Chanchal Chowdhury, Nazifa Tushi, Sariful Razz, Sumon Anowar, Shohel Mondol, Nasir Uddin Khan, and Rizvi Rizu were among the main actors. The film portrays the intriguing journey of an all-men team aboard a fishing trawler. Their encounter with a beautiful yet mysterious young girl sets the stage for a series of inexplicable events. The film was selected as Bangladesh's entry for the 'Best International Feature Film' category at the 95th Academy Awards. The film also garnered a place on the shortlist for the 80th Golden Globe Awards. Read more: Shakib Khan set to star Pan-Indian film 'Dard' alongside Sonal Chauhan Priya Amar Priya | Tk 15 Crore This Badiul Alam Khokon-directed romantic action movie marked a turning point in Shakib Khan's career. Produced by Monir Hossain under the banner of Asha Production, this film was released on June 13, 2008. The film's story was crafted by Puri Jagannadh, with the screenplay penned by Sachin Nag. 'Priya Amar Priya' showcases the performances of Sahara along with Shakib in the lead roles. The movie established itself as the top-earning Bangladeshi film of 2008 and earned its place as one of the all-time highest-earners in Bangladesh. Furthermore, the movie stands as the pinnacle of Shakib's cinematic journey up to 2019. His exceptional performance earned him the Meril-Prothom Alo Awards for Best Actor, the Euro-CJFB Performance Awards, and the Channel I Performance Awards. Read more: Chirkutt’s Sumi to join global music conference in Norway

For the first time ever, three Bangladeshi films - Abdullah Mohammad Saad's "Rehana Maryam Noor". Mostofa Sarwar Farooki's "No Land's Man", and Mohammad Rabby Mridha's "Paayer Tolay Mati Nai", have been selected to be showcased at the prestigious Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) 2021. The selection of the film "Paayer Tolay Mati Nai" (No Ground Beneath The Feet) was confirmed on Wednesday, which will be screened on October 7, 8, and 13 in the “A Window on Asian Cinema” section of the festival. Read ‘Mission Extreme’ is set to release worldwide on December 3rd Scheduled to be run from October 8 to 15, this year’s festival has enlisted these films as part of its “A Window on Asian Cinema” section, where Farooki's upcoming movie "No Land's Man", has been nominated for the Kim Jiseok Award. “What stands out is the selection of 3 films from Bangladeshi cinema, which has been considered until now to be on the cinematic periphery,” the BIFF website highlighted Bangladesh’s history-making participation at this year’s festival. Produced by acclaimed director-producer Abu Shahed Emon, "Paayer Tolay Mati Nai" is presented by Box Office and Golpo Rajjo films, and the film is co-produced by Impress Telefilm Limited and Batayan Productions. Read Web Series "Boli": Chanchal Chowdhury Again in an Unprecedented Character Mir Mokarram Hossain is the executive producer of the film, alongside its co-producers Faridur Reza Sagar, Managing Director of Impress Telefilm, and Tahrima Khan, Batayan Productions. Starring Mostafa Monwar, Priyam Archi, and Dipannita Martin are in the lead roles among others, “Paayer Tolay Mati Nai” narrates the story of an ordinary man named Saiful, who has embraced his miseries while walking through various conflicts in his life with his two wives, family, work, morality, and sociality. Farooki’s “No Land’s Man” stars noted Indian actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui and popular Bangladeshi singer-actor Tahsan Rahman Khan in the lead roles, narrating the theme of social discrimination in terms of race, religion, and nationality. Read Networker Baire Review: Story of joy, tragedy, travel, and unexpected event The joint venture by the US company Dialectic and Bangladesh's Chabial, in association with India's Magic If Films, Bangladesh's Sun Music & Motion Pictures, and Bongo BD, “No Land’s Man” also has teamed up with the Oscar-BAFTA-Grammy-famed world-famous Indian composer A R Rahman for its music. Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, Anjan Chowdhury, Nusrat Imrose Tisha, Shrihari Sathe, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, A R Rahman, and Faridur Reza Sagar are co-producing the film, which was the recipient of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and Asia Pacific Screen Awards' Script Development fund in 2014. It was part of the Asian Project Market at Busan and was the Best Project at India's Film Bazaar that year. Bangladesh's maiden entry at the prestigious “Un Certain Regard” section of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, 'Rehana Maryam Noor' is scripted, edited, and directed by Abdullah Mohammad Saad as his second directorial venture. The film was also showcased at the Melbourne International Film Festival and is now scheduled for the upcoming BFI London Film Festival. Read Holey Artisan Victim Faraaz's Heroism is Now on the Silver Screen The story of this 1 hour and 48 minutes long film revolves around Rehana Maryam Noor, an assistant professor at a private medical college, played by popular actress Azmeri Haque Badhan. For the past 26 years, the Busan International Film Festival has been organized in South Korea every year, featuring films from aspiring young Asian and global filmmakers. The festival was held online last year for the first time, due to the ongoing global pandemic of Covid-19. Organized by Busan City and the Korean Film Council, in collaboration with the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, the festival has earned its global recognition as one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world. Read Shah Rukh Khan's daughter Suhana to make Bollywood debut soon?

Successfully connecting the film-lovers from different corners of the world through its virtual platform, the first-ever Bangladesh European Union Film Festival (BEUFF) concluded on Wednesday after a three-week run to mark the golden jubilee of Bangladesh's independence, as well as of the friendship between the EU and Bangladesh. It was organised by the European Union's mission in Bangladesh, in partnership with all the EU Member States' individual Embassies in Dhaka: Germany, France, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Italy and Spain, as well as the two cultural centres- Germany's Goethe-Institut Bangladesh and the French Alliance Française de Dhaka. The festival featured 7 Bangladeshi films from young aspiring filmmakers, 7 EU feature films, and 7 international short films on climate change. Read Cannes Film Festival 2021: Movies and Filmmakers under the Limelight Discussing the festival's success and other aspects, a webinar was arranged on Wednesday with the associates of the festival's organizing partners. Broadcast live on the Facebook page of the Daily Prothom Alo, the festival was joined by the European Union in Bangladesh's Deputy Head of Diplomatic Mission Jeremy Opritesco, Goethe-Institut Bangladesh's Director Dr Kirsten Hackenbroch, Alliance Française de Dhaka Director Olivier Dintinger, Director of Operations at RedOrange Media and Communications Petra Van Der Eijk, Dr Nepomuk Zettle from the film department of Goethe-Institut Munich, Dhaka International Film Festival's Director Ahmed Muztaba Jamal, and Producer-Director Arifur Rahman from Gupi Bagha Productions Limited. Hosted by noted filmmaker, media personality and International Film Initiative of Bangladesh (IFIB) President Samia Zaman, discussants on the webinar lauded the participation of the audiences and talked about the new reality of film festivals around the world amid the challenging situation of COVID-19 global pandemic. Read Suman Ghosh’s Film Searching for Happiness is to Feature in London Indian Film Festival 2021 "Before starting the festival, we had no other option than to do it virtually, and then we were wondering if we will find any audience, considering the COVID-19 crisis. We thought people would probably be bored by watching the films online as we all have been hearing about online fatigue, but after the festival got started, we were quite surprised to see that the audience was quite high and the engagement was quite strong," European Union in Bangladesh's Deputy Head of Diplomatic Mission Jeremy Opritesco said at the webinar. "So that was an excellent surprise and that led us to the conclusion that having an online festival is probably something that has to be looked at, even in the future when the COVID crisis will be ended," he added. Also read: First-ever Bangladesh European Union Film Festival (BEUFF) kicks off online Echoing the same, Dr Kirsten Hackenbroch, Director of Goethe-Institut Bangladesh said, "It's the future - the home cinema; the smaller, semi-public living room screenings. I think we are going to see more of the hybrid format and it would be really interesting to explore how we can make use of this new virtual reality. It becomes more private, then again, it opens up more to a global world because we can bring more people together in Q and A sessions much more easily and interactively." Dr Nepomuk Zettle, representing the film department of Goethe-Institut Munich also agreed with her, adding that the online festivals are challenging yet good additions in the time of COVID-19. He said, "My personal guess is that we will see more hybrid formats in the future and I am very much hoping that this is not only the first European International Film Festival but also that there are many to come." Read Greatest Love Stories in Celluloid: Hollywood’s Best Romantic Movies of All Time Alliance Française de Dhaka Director Olivier Dintinger said, "We had no alternative within the COVID-19 situation, yet we managed to reach a new audience through this festival and even reached people who have never come to Dhaka or Chittagong and couldn’t visit in a normal format. We are still missing the experience of watching movies in cinema halls. It's a completely different dynamic that we have been collaborating with festivals like the Dhaka International Film Festival this year, and I hope that we will be able in coming months to witness more of these hybrid formats." Petra Van Der Eijk, Director of Operations at RedOrange Media and Communications said, "This has been the first-ever European Union Film Festival in Bangladesh and it has been a great success, almost all Bangladeshi films were sold out and even we were asked for extra tickets. That's a very good result I would say, and also, as already said by other discussants, we can reach a broader public around the world which is especially also the goal of the festival and the bigger projects which the film festival belongs to. As for people from the Netherlands, I know for sure they looked at Bangladeshi films and that is really something great." Read Rehana Maryam Noor: The Bangladeshi Film in the prestigious list of Cannes She informed that more than 4,400 people watched the films at this festival while almost 10,000 people visited the dedicated website, and over 1.5 million new visitors have visited the Facebook page of EU to learn about the festival during its timeline. Producer and Director Arifur Rahman said, "I really believe online is not the only option and cinema is an experience that needs to be felt within. As artists and filmmakers, we all believe that we can obviously cope-up; for example, if we look at the film history, when sound came - people never thought sound will be 100% compatible with films but now we cannot imagine most of the films without sounds." Also read: Curtains down on 14th International Children's Film Festival Bangladesh "So the same kind of shifting is going on virtually now but it's actually not appropriate in my opinion. Currently, I am in France for the Cannes Film Festival; it's physical and here we can have all the ideal experiences, we can see the emotion of the filmmakers. That's really important in this journey - we have to see the expressions and the filmmakers' journey on their faces. So definitely the format should be hybrid, and as for the online formats - it has its positive-negative both sides." Explaining the existing situation in the country, DIFF Director Ahmed Muztaba Jamal said, "We need support from the bureaucrats and associates. For film censoring, getting funds, getting the permissions and everything else, we have to go through many hardships. It's very complicated as sometimes it gets very difficult to convince the government people of the necessity of a film festival." "A film festival can work as an ambassador of a country. It can also help build a strong cultural environment in the country, as well. Cinema is a strong media that can easily reach people, again proved in our DIFF which was organised back in January this year. Many audiences joined our festival in person and joined a lot of seminars and conferences that we organised via the virtual platform. Most notably, the film conference on Satyajit Ray that we arranged this year, was watched by over 40,000 people," he informed at the webinar. Read Female filmmakers of Bangladesh have made their mark in the industry A dedicated website (www.beuff.org) was launched on June 9, allowing the audiences access to all films and other information related to the festival. The festival also featured masterclasses, questions/answer sessions with directors, discussions on gender representations in cinema, climate change and a handful of other issues. Organizers of the festival expect to bring more engaging festivals in the future that can promote EU's cultural exchange with Bangladesh and further shed light on vital issues such as education and skill development, climate change adaptation, food and nutrition security, good governance, safe migration and sustainable reintegration of refugees, empowerment of women and girls: EU's priorities for development cooperation in Bangladesh. Read Top 10 English Comedy Movies released in 2021

The 19th edition of the prestigious Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF) concluded on Sunday with the awards ceremony where a movie from Kyrgyzstan about an old writer who believes in the redeeming power of literature, The Road to Eden, walked away with the top prize.