single salma

Single Salma , released on Netflix on 26.12.2025 , is the story of a woman's rebellion against this patriarchal society. If a man can, why can a woman not live on her own terms?

The film released theatrically on 31 October 2025 casts: Huma Qureshi as Salma; Sunny Singh as Meet ; Shreyas Talpade as Sikander ; Navni Parihar as Mrs Shrivastav ; Nidhi Singh as Ratna ; Kanwaljit Singh as Nawab Sahab; Sachin kavetham as Salma's brother ; among others.

The film is directed by : Nachiket Samant

Single Salma is the story of a woman who remains single (unmarried) till the end of the movie, - formerly because of household responsibilities and later by choice.

Salma, a government Engineer hails from a Nawabi family in Lucknow. A part of her salary goes each month towards repayment of loans taken for marriage of her sisters and in paying the debt of their mortgaged mansion. In addition to these, her brother 's education is on her and her selfish sisters seek financial help from her every now and then for example , for buying a shop or a house.

Her mother is the only person who is truly concerned about her. At long last her mother succeeds in coaxing her into marriage .

Her would-be husband, Sikandar, a mediocre businessman, is a simple and honest person, with a beautiful heart. Not much educated , he holds her in high esteem. He is a cheerful man, very supportive and generous towards her. He went up in arms against the society alone even when Salma's family did not side her . He had prepared for the release of the mansion by paying off the debt secretly, which though Salma, who had a high sense of self-respect did not let happen.

Salma had another suitor too, Meet, the program coordinator of their tour in London, a person whom Salma too had given her heart.

However, while the 2 men were vying for Salma's hands in marriage, Salma refused to marry either of them.

She refused to marry Meet since he believed more in open relationship than in marriage. But to Salma marriage was a sacred bond. Though the man understood him, he could not be counted on when it came to the matter of marriage.

She refused to marry her would be husband because although he was reliable and a wonderful person, he failed to understand her and took her honesty to his ego. Salma refuses to be shackled by male ego.

Salma argues that she might be single, but she is happy with her singlehood. She feels that she is a COMPLETE person in herself. She will marry when she desires to. (It is here to be noted that she had by this time paid off the debt of the mortgaged mansion) .

She proclaims that from then onwards she would follow her heart in regard even to the pursuit of her career . She might succeed in her chosen path, or she might fail and switch over to another career path of her DESIRE, but she definitely would follow her heart.

In our society , however ' beautiful, educated, talented ' a woman might be, she is always judged by her marital status. As such most parents do not bother to know what their daughters want to make of their lives. As if marriage is the only alternative to happiness they marry their daughters to ‘ anyone at all ' - it could be a drunk widower , someone beneath her in education and social status and so on.

The movie shows the humiliation even a financially independent woman in a good position faces in the society if she has not married. Even lowly men see her as an object of lust . Some menial rascal might even seek sexual favours unhesitant.

DESIRE! well, that is a forbidden word when it comes to girls or women. A girl, from her very childhood is taught that DESIRE is a sin.

When a woman takes the economic responsibility for the family , men find no fault with it since it serves their interest. But she is bashed when she lives for herself, she tries to fulfil the desire she had always secretly nurtured in her heart - which is so normal for a man, but so abominable for a woman - taking a sip of sweet sherry, making curls of smoke in the air from a cigarette 🚬 , wearing an unorthodox attire, going to a disco and so on.

Mrs Shrivastav , (who wistfully says that she has never worn a midi after school; or with her innate sweetness shyly suggests that she would prefer alcohol to fruit juice) observes that even a woman should experiment with and experience everything in life - from Sherry to tobacco , without any feeling of guilt; for there is nothing wrong in experiencing anything and everything. Only then can one know the difference between good and bad, healthy and unhealthy, virtue and vice. As for women, when they are barred from doing so publicly, 'Then go under the bridge '

The film has many messages to deliver , and numerous questions for the society - Why is the woman always blamed in a childless family when the man could be infertile? Why should only the mother make a sacrifice of her career for raising a child when both parents are equally responsible for giving birth to the child? Why should 'Salma' immigrate to London after marriage? Could 'Meet' not think of leaving London and setting in Lucknow for 'Salma'? Why should a man inflict favours on a woman unasked ? Is it to satisfy his male ego? Is it not male dominance? Is a woman a creature to be pitied upon? Subhan, Salma's brother distressfully asks Salma as to why a family must burden itself with more mouths to feed in order to get a son , when the son might not be as talented and hardworking as the daughter?

It is a shame that things have not changed since the days of Ramayana and Mahabharata. Men still seek revenge on men by slamming the women concerning them, as if the woman were his property. Babban takes revenge on Sikander by maligning Salma's reputation .

However please do not take Single Salma to be a gloomy or a didactic movie .There are several comic instances in the movie like - the quirks of Nawab Sahab ; Sikander' s gushiness, his inflated way of talking, the scene where Sikandar takes an orchestra to the airport to see Salma off to London ; Rajiv's cheeky questions and comments to 'Meet' during their first meeting ; 'Meet 's' search for and booking of orchestra ; the mayhem before Salma's house when both Meet and Sikandar approach with wedding bands to marry Salma ; the toilet scene in London where Salma brings 2 bottles of mineral water for Mrs Shrivastav's use in the toilet.

Also you get to see beautiful sights of Lucknow and London in the movie.

Varied types of songs have added flavour to the film - party track with Punjabi beats by Jassi Siddu, soulful songs, inspirational songs, romantic dance song. My favourite song is 'Sun Rahe ho Na'. It has a sweet melody and is deeply emotional.

All acted very naturally in the film. You feel as if they are real people from every day life placed in situations so common to you. The end is so unexpected and so daring.

I am sure you too would like the movie.