Tauba Tauba by Karan Aujla Explained

Your beauty, good lord

The song starts with the title-hook with Karan Aujla/Vicky Kaushal singing praises to the woman they are wooing. Looking at her beauty, they can’t help but praise the lord. Tauba tauba (तौबा तौबा; ਤੌਬਾ ਤੌਬਾ; توبہ توبہ) is a phrase used among Urdu/Punjabi/Hindi-speaking South Asians which effectively means “god forgive us”. It is used in a colloquial sense to express shock, disapproval, or dismay over something considered inappropriate, shameful, or sinful. In the song’s context, Tripti Dimri appears so beautiful to Vicky Kaushal that he feels he is committing a sin by looking at her, and is thus repenting for it.

Vocabulary:
• Husan/Husn (हुसन) – beauty
• Tauba (तौबा) – penitence/repentence ↩︎

Oh, the girl has taken my heart
Her intentions don’t seem right
She hasn’t kept her braid too long
I don’t see a tassel in her hair, but I see her wearing Prada

Here Aujla/Kaushal give us context to the woman. They tell us that she (Dimri) is what could be called a “modern woman”. She keeps her hair short and doesn’t wear a decorative braid tassel in her hair. Instead she wears designer clothes and accessories from Prada. Looking at her steadfast ways, they say they doubt her intentions, that is, they believe she is here to kill (with her looks).

Vocabulary:
• Gut (गुत) – a hair braid • Paranda (परांदा/ਪਰਾਂਦਾ) – decorative braid tassel worn by women in Punjab ↩︎

In a somewhat creepy manner, Aujla/Kaushal “praise” the woman by comparing her body figure/physique to that of a Latina woman, who are stereotyped as voluptuous. Next, they mention her high-flying affluent lifestyle wherein she orders a designer purse (Valentino Garavani) from Paris when she herself flies in from Italy (probably also shopping in Milan). ↩︎

The song’s bridge has Aujla harmonising crooning vocals where he wonders why the woman isn’t noticing him (tenu kyun na dikha’an), what he can learn from her (tere ton ki sikha’an), and what he could write about her (tere te ki likha’an). And he understands that the answer to all three questions is – her ethereal beauty (husan tera tauba tauba). ↩︎

Here addressing the woman directly, Aujla/Kaushal tell her that her eye is a thief (because it stole his heart). They paint her as a duality – an innocent damsel (shareef) and a playful flirt who doesn’t shy away from some public display of affection (aira-gaira dekhdi ni: doesn’t bother to check who’s watching). In India, the woman dismisses Aujla/Kaushal as too rustic (desi) and instead prefers to chill in London and party in Ibiza. She has no time for Aujla but all the time to party in Bora Bora. Still mad in infatuation, Aujla feels that the woman’s voice is as melodious as Noori (not sure if it’s a reference to the Pakistani rock band or some other female artist) and when she dances her waist moves just like Nora Fatehi’s.

Vocabulary:
• Akh (अक्ख़) – eye • Shareef (शरीफ़) - noble, innocent • Bhora (भोरा) - a little bit • Lakk (लक्क) - waist ↩︎

The crooning returns in the bridge with Aujla/Kaushal pleading the girl to meet him. They go so far as to call her “my beloved” (meri jaan) when asking her to give them a time and place (tha’an) where they could meet her. ↩︎

Your eye asks/compels me to buy you gifts (a gold bracelet)
I’ll get you one, just say the word
Ask for my soul and I’ll hand it to you
My soul will leave me, all you have to do is smile
You are as intoxicating as first-cut hooch liquor
Alochol just takes the blame for you
You are a bigger star than me (despite all my influence)
Traffic get blocked when you are out on the streets

Ending their confession of love, Aujla/Kaushal lay it out as it is – they’ll die for Dimri. They find her as intoxicating as hooch liquor - a regular feature of Aujla’s songs (remember, Softly?). ↩︎

The song ends with a final plea. Vicky Kaushal requests Tripti Dimri to agree to his request, to be his guest, for she is his beloved. ↩︎