Awaara Hoon

"Awaara Hoon"
Song by Mukesh from the album Awaara
Released	1951
Genre	film song
Writer(s)	Shailendra
Composer(s)	Shankar Jaikishan
Language	hindi

"Awaara Hoon" (hindi: आवारा हूँ; Aavaara huun Urdu: آواره هوں; Russian: Бродяга я) is an internationally popular song from the 1951 classic hindi film, Awaara, starring Raj Kapoor.^[1][2] The song was written in the Hindi language by lyricist Shailendra and sung by Mukesh.^[3] "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."^[4] 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.^[5]

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,^[6] and Romania.

Example verse

The refrain of the song is "Awaara Hoon", which means "I am a vagabond/tramp". The song is in Hindi - Urdu, which is usually written in either Devanagari or Nastaliq. 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 and the Balkans/Russian area.

Hindi	Transcription	English translation	Russian 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 hoon 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 hoon āwārā hoon āwārā hoon yā gardish mein hoon, āsmān ka tārā hoon āwārā hoon āwārā hoon	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	Абара я, абара я, Дорога вдаль зовёт меня, зовёт меня, Абара я, абара я, Никто нигде не ждет меня, не ждёт меня, Абара я, Одинок всегда, бесприютен я, Мир - пустыня для меня, Мир - пустыня для меня, Не связал ни с кем я судьбы своей, судьбы своей, Я чужой среди людей Я чужой среди людей Звездой во мгле блуждаю я, скитаюсь я Бродяга я, бродяга я

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. 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 ...
4. 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 ...
5. "100 Greatest Bollywood Songs of All Time"
6. 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 ...