Awara Hoon

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

Awara Hoon (Hindi: आवारा हूँ; 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-Urdu or Hindustani language by lyricist Shailendra and sung by Mukesh.[3] Awara 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 Awara 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 Awara Hoon, which means I am a vagabond/tramp. The song is in Hindustani - 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
But I sing songs of happiness
My breast is full of wounds
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

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 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 'Awara hoon' ('I'm a vagabond'), the title song of Raj Kapoor's Awara ('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 “Awara 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 Awara 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 (“Awara 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 Awara, “Awara 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 ...