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Single Salma Movie Review: Huma Qureshi headlines Single Salma, her first home production, directed by Nachiket Samant with a screenplay and dialogues by Mudassar Aziz. It treads familiar terrain - that of Queen (2013), another tale of a woman rediscovering herself after heartbreak in Europe. ‘Single Salma’ Release Date: Huma Qureshi, Sunny Singh and Shreyas Talpade Starrer To Hit Cinemas on October 31. Except here, the travel is limited to London, and the toxic fiancé is replaced by two 'green flag' men: a besotted prospective husband and a liberal paramour. For a film about a woman breaking free of emotional and societal inhibitions, Single Salma has its heart in the right place, yet how it goes all over the place with that heart is where the film falters. 'Single Salma' Movie Review - The Plot Salma (Huma Qureshi) is a government employee in Lucknow, hailing from a once-prestigious Nawabi family now in decline. At 33, she’s the sole breadwinner, having married off her sisters and taken on the burden of her family’s debt, all while keeping their crumbling kotha afloat. Her mother’s constant lament about her unmarried status eventually pushes her to start meeting prospective grooms - leading her to Sikandar (Shreyas Talpade), a 40-year-old retail shop owner with a kind heart and a slightly forced baritone. Watch the Trailer of 'Single Salma': After marriage, Salma gets the opportunity of a lifetime: a work assignment in London. There, she meets Meet (Sunny Singh) - a man whose dodgy accent is as confusing as his résumé. He’s a cab driver, architect, DJ, and self-proclaimed philosopher, doling out unsolicited life lessons with the confidence of a TED Talker. What begins as friendship turns flirtatious, then impulsive — and one night, Salma gives in to temptation. 'Single Salma' Movie Review - A Well-Meaning Story Within a Plaid Structure The film’s structure is immediately clumsy. It opens with Sikander receiving a 'Best Entrepreneur' award in London, and he begins to confuse a roomful of baffled goras by telling them the story of a random woman called Salman. That too, in Hindi. Without translation. And they, who have been laughing at him for fumbling English words, listen to him with rapt attention. Who needs Duolingo or Google Translate when, as Sikandar puts it, people understand when you say it from the heart? This lazy narration technique is not a good start. The first act, though predictable, has an earthy sincerity. Salma’s struggles - juggling family duties, fending off creeps, dealing with societal taunts - are relatable, and Huma plays her exhaustion with lived-in grace. The introduction of Sikandar’s character is charmingly handled, and Talpade’s grounded warmth adds some much-needed texture to the early portions. Tarla Movie Review: Huma Qureshi's Biopic of Tarla Dalal is Too Safe and Cliched For Its Own Good! [caption id="attachment_7184202" align="alignnone" width="1426"] A Still From Single Salma Trailer[/caption] The trouble begins once London enters the picture - and so does Meet and her very 'believable' NRI accent. Meet drives his company cab, he is also their chief architect, he is a DJ and the way he keeps correcting and moralising others, he should also have been a motivational guru. Also, add hypocrite to his resume; Meet finds it annoying that Salma's colleagues generalise things about him, and yet he has no problems generalising about them by speaking in Urdu just because they are from Lucknow. Considering he is one of the two suitors for Salma, you know where my vote goes. Salma’s self-discovery, meanwhile, is disappointingly superficial. The film reduces her 'awakening' to a checklist of clichés - drinking, partying, photo shoots, and a swimsuit scene framed as liberation. Her moral dilemma after cheating on Sikandar is brushed off too easily; instead of introspection, Single Salma celebrates her lapse as empowerment. The writing doesn't bring about the emotional intelligence to explore her guilt or the complexity of her choices. [caption id="attachment_7184200" align="alignnone" width="1452"] A Still From Single Salma Trailer[/caption] When the love triangle sets in, even Salma’s likability begins to waver. What could’ve been a nuanced portrait of self-realisation becomes a confused juggling act between two good men. The final act - complete with a wedding chaos sequence straight out of Mudassar Aziz’s playbook - rushes to a railway-station resolution that feels too neat for the mess it built. In the middle of all this, there’s also a subplot where Salma’s swimsuit photo goes viral — for all the wrong reasons. And in the most absurd way, too. I mean, why would anyone post a picture without cropping out a complete stranger who’s clearly photobombing it by accident? This incident, along with the rest of the chaos in Salma’s life, becomes an excuse for some half-hearted moral sermonising. [caption id="attachment_7184199" align="alignnone" width="1434"] A Still From Single Salma Trailer[/caption] Ironically, Salma’s actual reason for being in London - to study the city and help transform Lucknow into a smart city - ends up taking a back seat. Instead, we get side scenes: her female colleague struggling to use toilets because there are no jet sprays, two male colleagues going through their own random “coming-of-age” experiences, and another whose lower-caste background is mentioned but never explored. By the time the film ends, Salma, who once dreamed of modernising her hometown, decides to turn her focus inward and work on her own life instead. Should we read too much into the political context (or lack thereof)? Leila Season 1 Review: Huma Qureshi and Siddharth’s Brilliantly Enacted Netflix Series Is a Claustrophobic Vision of a Terrifying Future. 'Single Salma' Movie Review - The Performances Performance-wise, Huma Qureshi carries the film with sincerity. Even when the script lets her down, she remains engaging and authentic. Shreyas Talpade is reliably good, making Sikandar both endearing and real. Sunny Singh, however, is painfully one-note; his fake accent alone deserves its own post-credits apology. [caption id="attachment_7184198" align="alignnone" width="1550"] A Still From Single Salma Trailer[/caption] Among the supporting cast, Aasif Khan stands out in a brief scene where his character shows a a strong moment of solidarity with Salma. Navni Parihar, Kanwaljit Singh, and Nidhi Singh all do their parts well. 'Single Salma' Movie Review - Final Thoughts Single Salma wants to be a relatable modern fable about a woman reclaiming her life, but its brand of feminism is decorative - a glossy coat on a conventional story. Despite a sincere Huma Qureshi and some earnest ideas, the film settles for surface-level liberation.
