Salma is a cheerful version of the classic Hindi film heroine who sacrifices herself for her family. Salma (Huma Qureshi) has shunned marriage so that her sisters can wed. She works hard in Lucknow’s urban development department to release her family home from debt. She has time for everybody but herself.
The 33-year-old Salma continues to be amiable and tolerant, sighing rather than screaming when her parents roll out prospective grooms. One of them is smitten at first sight.
Sikandar (Shreyas Talpade) busies himself with proving his credentials. When Salma is called away to London along with her colleagues for an official trip, Sikandar rolls out the red carpet and hires a band.
London changes Salma and her co-workers in fundamental ways. Salma’s encounter with Meet (Sunny Singh) hints at the end of her self-imposed singledom. But Nachiket Samant’s Hindi comedy Single Salma, written by Amina Khan and Ravi Kumar, is only just getting started.
Apart from the sheer unusualness of featuring leading Muslim characters, Single Salma has a few surprises in store. Not all of these land well because of the 142-minute movie’s tendency towards bloat and speechifying. But there are neat upending of expectations, welcome fun poked at the Indian obsession with marriage.
Mudassar Aziz’s dialogue articulates the movie’s intended balance between home and the world, sense and sensibility. Aziz has a proven talent for mischief and sharp observations on human nature. His clever lines, the best of which belong to Salma’s feisty friend Ratna (Nidhi Singh), steer the film through its overstretched runtime and needless contrivances.
The London section seems to goes on forever. Salma’s tendency to overwork is matched by the over-achieving Meet, who is urban planner, DJ and supplier of good times all rolled into one. Some of Salma’s colleagues, including characters played by Navni Parihar and Asif Khan, transform overnight from country hicks into global cosmopolitans.
All along, Sikandar waits for Salma – as do we for him. Shreyas Talpade is hilarious as the cloth store owner with hennaed hair and a suspicious moustache. Sikandar’s pining for Salma is as heartfelt as is her own feminist journey.
Huma Qureshi ably plays a woman who has wandered into the present from Jane Austen’s world, trying to do what is expected of her while also trying to do what is right for her. Single Salma reaches its destination after far too much wandering, delivering a sweet kick in the teeth of convention.
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