Single Salma, which has released today in cinemas, stars Huma Qureshi in the lead along with Shreyas Talpade and Sunny Singh. The basic plot is promising and the dialogues by Mudassar Aziz (of Khel Khel Mein and Happy Bhag Jayegi fame) raise laughs. A few scenes stand out and the message is easy to understand. However, the script is bland and the humourous and dramatic moments are few and far between. Despite a run time of 141 minutes, it seems too long. The central idea gives a déjà vu of Queen and some other scenes remind of Namaste England, Pad Man etc. The finale just doesn't work. Huma Qureshi tries a bit too hard to be serious in the initial scenes, but gets better later on. The same goes for Sunny Singh. His accent seems awkward at first but afterwards, one gets used to it. Shreyas Talpade, however, gets his act right and his entry scene is hilarious. Nidhi Singh (Ratna), Aasif Khan (Rajiv), Lauren Gottlieb (Zoya) and Navni Parihar (Nirmala Shrivastav) are highly memorable. Kanwaljit Singh and Sachin Kavetham (Subhaan) are dependable. Shiv Kanungo (Babban) is aptly cast. Songs are forgettable. All in all, Single Salma rests on a promising idea but fails to impress due to poor script and direction.

My rating - ** out of 5!