‘Lipstick lagane wale chulha jala rahe’ — architects create lockdown song from 1952 hit

A still from the video | YouTube

New Delhi: “Lipstick lagane wale, dil ko jalane wale, ab chulha jala rahe hain” — these lines from a 1952 song would resonate with people working from home, while managing household chores and attending zoom calls in their PJs. Originally from the movie Shrimatiji, this song has now being used in a quirky video with lyrics that fit the Covid-19 situation.

Created by a bunch of architects from the School of Planning and Architecture, the black-and-white video shows five women expressing their lockdown woes on this much-relatable song.

Shilpi Tewari, who had edited and compiled the clip, told ThePrint,”Some of us were thinking of doing something interesting and break the monotony. Initially, we thought we shall do a singing compilation video like everyone is doing since many of our group members are singers.”

“But then two of our members discovered this song and we decided that we’ll make a video on this. We did some brainstorming and it took hardly a day or two to come up with the entire thing,” Tewari added.

The video features Mandvi Kulshreshtha, Meena Murthy, Seema Bali, Kakoli Mukherjee and Shruti Dimri, all of who are architects and based in different parts of the country and abroad.

Acknowledging that the lockdown has been tough for all, Murthy said that it was also a time for introspection and communication with people. “Art is the result of that, so it is up to us how we view any situation.”

“Creativity is the only thing that will keep us humans relevant when robots take over,” said Kulshreshtha.

For Mukherjee, the video was a therapeutic and a fun task to do during these testing times. Bali, on the other hand, quipped, “I am only waiting for a call from Vishal Bhardwaj.”

The video has been a hit among working professionals, especially the architect community, Tewari said.