Released 1951 Language Hindi | Genre film song Composer(s) Shankar Jaikishan | |
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"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. The song was written in the Hindi language (placing some Urdu words in it) by lyricist Shailendra and sung by Mukesh. "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." In China, "both the song and film were said to be Chairman Mao's favourites." In a May 2013 BBC poll, the song was rated the second-greatest Bollywood song of all time.
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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, 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.