Awaara Hoon

"Awaara Hoon" is a song from the 1951 Indian film Awaara, directed by and starring Raj Kapoor, which was internationally popular.[1][2] The song was written in the Hindi-Urdu language[3] by lyricist Shailendra, and sung by Mukesh.[4] "Awaara Hoon" immediately struck "a chord in audiences from various classes and backgrounds all over India and beyond: in China, in the Soviet Union, in the Middle East."[5] In China, "both the song and film were said to be Chairman Mao's favourites."[1] In a May 2013 BBC poll, the song was rated the second-greatest Bollywood song of all time.[6]

"Awaara Hoon"
Song by Mukesh
from the album Awaara
Language	Hindi-Urdu
Released	1951
Genre	Film song
Songwriter(s)	Shailendra
Composer(s)	Shankar Jaikishan

Local versions

The popularity of "Awaara Hoon" led to the creation of localized versions of the song in Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, the Soviet Union, China,[7] and Romania.

Example verse

The refrain of the song is "Awaara Hoon", which means "I am a vagabond/tramp". It has a catchy, rhythmic tempo with several short lines interposed with a few slightly longer ones. It is still considered to be a timeless song of much of South Asia, China, the Balkans, Russia, and Central Asia.

Hindi	Transcription	English translation
आबाद नहीं बरबाद सही गाता हूँ ख़ुशी के गीत मगर ज़ख़्मों से भरा सीना है मेरा हंसती है मगर ये मस्त नज़र दुनिया! मैं तेरे तीर का या तक़दीर का मारा हूँ आवारा हूँ आवारा हूँ या गर्दिश में हूँ, आसमान का तारा हूँ आवारा हूँ आवारा हूँ	ābād nahin barbād sahi gātā hū khushi ké geet magar zakhmon sé bharā sinā hai mérā hansti hai magar yé mast nazar duniyā! main téré teer kā yā taqdeer kā mārā hū āwārā hū āwārā hū yā gardish mein hū, āsmān ka tārā hū āwārā hū āwārā hū	I am not settled Yes, I am devastated I sing songs of happiness Yet this chest is full of pain But my carefree gaze laughs World! Your arrows Or the fates Have destroyed me I am a vagabond I am a vagabond Or I am a star of the sky, doing its circuits I am a vagabond I am a vagabond

See also

• Awaara
• Raj Kapoor

References

1. Linda Badley; R. Barton Palmer; Steven Jay Schneider, Traditions in world cinema, Rutgers University Press, 2006, ISBN 978-0-8135-3874-7, ... To this day 'Awaara hoon' ('I'm a vagabond'), the title song of Raj Kapoor's Awaara ('The Vagabond', 1951) remains well known throughout Russia, which the director- star visited, and China, where both the song and film were said to be Chairman Mao's favourites ...
2. Natasa Ďurovičová, World cinemas, transnational perspectives, Taylor & Francis, 2010, ISBN 978-0-415-97653-4, ... hearing the hit theme song “Awaara Hoon” (“I am wayward”) hummed on the streets of Nanjing. Then, traveling through a small town in a more remote part of China, Seth has to perform the song on request at a local gathering: 'No sooner have I begun than I find that the musicians have struck up the accompaniment behind me: they know the tune better than I do ...
3. "This Chinese man singing Raj Kapoor's Awara Hoon will light up your day". India Today. 23 March 2018. Retrieved 18 July 2020. The song was written in Urdu and immediately became a favourite of many people around the globe.
4. Ashraf Aziz, Light of the universe: essays on Hindustani film music, Three Essays Collective, 2003, ISBN 978-81-88789-07-8, ... Its title song Awaara hoon, written by Shailendra, remains the best-appreciated Hindustani film song in foreign countries ...
5. Bhaskar Sarkar, Mourning the nation: Indian cinema in the wake of Partition, Duke University Press, 2009, ISBN 978-0-8223-4411-7, ... When Raj sings cheerfully about the pleasures of being a street-smart vagabond (“Awaara Hoon”), he strikes a chord in audiences from various classes and backgrounds all over India and beyond: in China, in the Soviet Union, in the Middle East ...
6. "100 Greatest Bollywood Songs of All Time"
7. Tejaswini Ganti, Bollywood: a guidebook to popular Hindi cinema, Psychology Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0-415-28853-8, ... Their title track for Awaara, “Awaara Hoon” (I'ma vagabond) was immensely popular world-wide, leading to local versions of the song in Greece, the Middle East, the Soviet Union, and China ...