'Single Salma' Review: Huma's Messy 'Girl Boss' Dream Is Woke, Wild And Extremely Out Of Sync

Some films are meant to make you question everything you know, not in a deep, life-changing or introspective manner, but rather in 'why didn't I just rewatch Happy Bhag Jayegi again?' Well, that's exactly what Single Salma is like. While the film attempts to match the same witty 'girlboss' energy of Piku and Queen, it just ends up stumbling and falling. The result? Chaos, derailed feminism and tone-deaf humour.

Single Salma has a promising storyline, but it goes nowhere

The film revolves around 'Salma Rizvi' essayed by Huma Qureshi. She is a thirty-something government employee in Lucknow, constantly smacked by her family's 'shaadi kab karogi' anthem. While she is smart, independent, and content being single, she suddenly finds herself in a mess when two suitors enter the picture.

'Salma' meets two men: 'Sikandar' (Shreyas Talpade), a loyal local shopkeeper, and 'Meet' (Sunny Singh), a London-based urban planner who moonlights as a DJ and motivational speaker. However, what could have been a sharp, funny story about choice and independence quickly drowns and dissolves into a confused rom-com that takes noise for wit and melodrama for empowerment.  

A two-hour, twenty-two-minute-long bikini scandal

The film loses its plot and starts to drag what was supposed to be the 'girlboss' heels into making screeching noises that will leave you baffled. The much-hyped bikini scandal subplot is a new low in cinematic logic. How, you might ask? Well, a man randomly types in bikini pictures on Google, and guess whose face shows up in the first picture? You guessed it: it's 'Salma,' which then plays out like a rejected TV soap.

Single Salma was a performance that deserved better

London sequence tries hard to look international but feels more like a badly edited travel vlog, complete with fake accents and backhanded India vs. abroad jokes. By the time both suitors arrive with their own baraats outside 'Salma's' house in the climax, even the remainder of the logic has long left the building. The film once again confuses independence with arrogance and strength with stubbornness, culminating in 'Salma's' final monologue, in which she rejects both men to move to Delhi and become a model.

Huma Qureshi has given the role her best shot, bringing some warmth and sincerity to 'Salma' and nearly carrying the entire film on her shoulders. Shreyas Talpade's 'Sikandar' starts as a refreshing green flag, who is supportive, sensitive, and progressive, but is reduced to comic relief by the end of the film. Sunny Singh's 'Meet', on the other hand, is earnest but trapped in a role too thin to make an impression.

Is Single Salma worth your time?

Director, Nachiket Samant, shows flashes of sincerity with some lovely glimpses of Lucknow's streets, and the clean production design, but the storytelling never finds its rhythm. The dialogues sound like the 2016 Tumblr feed meets feminism, and the plot just never expands. However, Single Salma does have some fun songs, but at the end, a talent like Huma Qureshi deserves a better storyline, and so does the audience.

Did you watch Single Salma? Let us know your views on the film.

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