Not everything is perfect in this quaint, cuddly film about a 30-something Muslim girl, Salma, in Lucknow, who finally learns to love herself.
There are lenient passages of over-explanation in director Nachiket Samant’s flawed but agreeable apologue: at one point, Salma’s life is turned upside down when a picture of her in a bathing costume appears online.
We didn’t need to know HOW it got there. At times, I wished the narrative would let the sassy Salma speak and not intervene to explain what or why she does what she does.
Ironically, isn’t that what Ravi Kumar’s screenplay wants to do? Give Salma a voice? Hence, that voiceover by one of the characters seems so unnecessary and redundant. Huma Qureshi is the kind of actor who can reveal her character’s thoughts and feelings without subtitles. She is fully in-charge of Salma Rizvi’s universe, even if Salma herself often finds herself subverting her own desires for the sake of a demanding family and a delusional father (Kanwaljeet Singh) who remains frozen in his feudalism.
These are characters who could have done with more breathing space. Even the smallest person who crosses Salma’s craggy path leaves an impression; for instance, her boss, who looks lecherous (probably because the actor has played cheesy parts in the parts) but is quietly supportive of Salma’s right to blossom in a field of cacti hurdles.
The most durably likeable character is Sikandar, played with an endearing mix of goofiness and righteousness by Shreyas Talpade. Sikandar’s social awkwardness in Lucknow’s burgeoning conflict between tradition and modernity, is brought out in sharp strokes of satire in scenes that show Sikandar struggling with chivalry and self-doubt.
I would love a ‘Single Sikandar’ sequel, except that Sikandar is not single at the end.
But it is Huma’s Salma and her conversations with her female friends that make this film just that bit more special in spite of the unmistakable ‘Queen’ vibes. There is a solidly constructed conversation piece between Salma and her colleague, Mrs Srivastava (Navni Parihar, good to see her back), in a hotel room in London (funny, how liberating hotel rooms can be), which could have been a tad less self-consciously ‘liberating’
Or Salma’s post-clubbing boozing interaction with her London host, Meet Singh Sahani (Sunny Singh, giving off Fawad Khan vibes from Abeer Gulaal). Or when Salma is stricken with guilt after crossing the line with Meet in London, her best friend in India assures Salma it’s okay.
With its heart in the right place, Single Salma has a lot going for itself.
