Anand Pandit Motion Pictures and Ultra Media & Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.’s Jilabi (Marathi; UA) is the story about investigation of a murder case.
Corrupt police officer ACP Vijay Karmarkar (Swapnil Joshi) is given the charge of investigating the murder of Ashutosh (Abhijit Dulgach), the son-in-law of the rich business family of Subhedar. Vijay interrogates Saurav Subhedar (Prasad Oak), his wife, Janhavi (Shivani Surve), his twin brother, Gaurav Subhedar (Prasad Oak again), and their office colleague, Patil (Ganesh Yadav).
Vijay asks his informer, Pappu (Pranav Raorane), to dig into the case, but Pappu’s sister, Rubina (Parna Pethe), does not like this and so she wants to kill Vijay.
After a few days, Patil is kidnapped. Vijay learns that the abduction is the job of Ashutosh’s widow, Neha (Ashwini Chavare). Why did Neha kidnap Patil? Soon, Neha is murdered. And then Saurav Subhedar is murdered. Before long, Pappu is also killed. Janhavi is then kidnapped by someone. ACP Vijay Karmarkar then shoots Gaurav Subhedar dead. So who had murdered Ashutosh, and why? Is the murderer brought to book?
Machhindra Bugde has written a story which is too long-winding and unnecessarily loaded with too many characters. His screenplay is fair at times but becomes boring at places. The drama also tends to become confusing because of too many characters. Machhindra Bugde’s dialogues are so-so.
Swapnil Joshi looks dashing and acts well as corrupt ACP Vijay Karmarkar. Prasad Oak performs ably in a double role — as Saurav and Gaurav Subhedar. Shivani Surve is lovely as Saurav’s wife, Janhavi. Ganesh Yadav makes his mark as Patil. Ashwini Chavare lends routine support as Ashutosh’s wife, Neha. Parna Pethe is okay as Rubina. Pranav Raorane is alright as Pappu. Rushi Deshpande is adequate in the role of DCP Karmarkar. Pankaj Khamkar is average as police inspector More. Abhijit Dulgach is just about ordinary as Ashutosh. Priyanka Bhattacharjee provides routine support as Gaurav’s girlfriend, Mishti. Dilip Karad, Rajesh Kamble and the others pass muster.
Nitin Kamble’s direction is fair but lacks the cutting edge. There are no songs in the film. Amar Mohile’s background music is okay. Ganesh Utekar’s cinematography is alright. Action and stunt scenes (by Raj Shinde) don’t afford much thrill. Kaushal Singh’s art direction is functional. Sadiq Iqbal’s editing should’ve been sharper.
On the whole, Jilabi is a dull fare.
Released on 17-1-’25 at Plaza (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Panorama Studios. Publicity: & 0pening: dull.