"Mundian To Bach Ke" ( pa, ਮੁੰਡਿਆਂ ਤੋਂ ਬੱਚ ਕੇ, ), also titled "Beware of the Boys (Mundian To Bach Ke)" or "Beware", is a bhangra music song produced by British musician Panjabi MC, with vocals and lyrics by

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...

artist

Labh Janjua Labh Janjua (1957 – 22 October 2015) was an Indian bhangra vocalist and songwriter, best known for his bhangra and hip hop songs, such as "Bair Bura Hunda Jatt da", "Jatt Di Nazar Buri", "Goli Jatt Ne Katcheri'ch Chaloni ", "Jatt Marda", " ...

. The song was produced by Panjabi MC in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, England, for his 1998 album ''Legalised''. Following its release as a single in November 2002, "Mundian To Bach Ke" achieved worldwide success, topping the singles charts in Italy and

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...

and charting highly in many other countries. A remix of the song, released in 2003 and featuring American rapper

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...

, also charted highly in North America and Australia. The song sold an estimated copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time.

Lyrics and music

In addition to features of bhangra music, "Mundian To Bach Ke" also uses the bass line and part of the beat from "

Fire It Up Fire It Up may refer to: * ''Fire It Up'' (Rick James album), 1979, and the title track * ''Fire It Up'' (EP), a 1993 EP by Kid Rock * ''Fire It Up'' (Tinsley Ellis album), 1997 * ''Fire It Up'' (Kottonmouth Kings album), 2004 * "Fire It Up" (B ...

" (1997) by

Busta Rhymes Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after NFL and CFL wide receiver ...

, which in turn is based around a sample from the television theme song for '' Knight Rider'', written by

Glen A. Larson Glen Albert Larson (January 3, 1937 – November 14, 2014) was an American musician, television producer, writer, and director. His best known work in television was as the creator of the television series ''Alias Smith and Jones'', ''Battlestar ...

and Stu Phillips, as an underlying element and lyrics originally written by Channi Singh. The lyrics of the song are in

. The video of this song was shot in the streets of

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

Chart performance

Partially fueled by Internet downloads, "Mundian To Bach Ke" was officially released as a single in Germany on 25 November 2002. It sold over 100,000 in the first two days alone and debuted at number two on the

German Singles Chart The GfK Entertainment charts are the official music charts in Germany and are gathered and published by GfK Entertainment (formerly Media Control and Media Control GfK International), a subsidiary of GfK, on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindust ...

. On the Italian Singles Chart, the song reached number one for three weeks. In the UK, it was issued through Instant Karma and debuted at its peak of number five on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

; it was the first bhangra song to reach the UK top 10. The remix, featuring American rapper

, also reached number 33 on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

, number 10 in Canada, and number 12 in Australia. ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' estimated that there may have been 10 million units sold worldwide. However, given that many of these copies may have been bootlegged, an exact number is not known, though sales are at least in the millions.

Track listings

German CD single # "Mundian To Bach Ke" (original mix) – 3:49 # "Mundian To Bach Ke" (

Moonbootica MOONBOOTICA is the pseudonym of Hamburg DJs KoweSix (Oliver Kowalski) and Tobitob (Tobias Schmidt), who have been playing together since the 1990s. General The MOONBOOTICA music project was born at the early Moonbootica party series in the ...

mix) – 6:41 # "Mundian To Bach Ke" (Banks & Sullivan Oldskool mix) – 4:39 # "Mundian To Bach Ke" (instrumental mix) – 4:43 French CD single # "Mundian To Bach Ke" (original radio edit) – 3:24 # "Mundian To Bach Ke" (Motivo Hi-Lectro radio edit) – 3:25 UK CD single # "Mundian To Bach Ke" (radio edit) – 3:20 # "Mundian To Bach Ke" (Switch mix) – 6:19 # "Mundian Breaks" – 3:56 UK 12-inch single :A1. "Mundian To Bach Ke" (main mix) – 4:02 :B1. "Mundian To Bach Ke" (Switch mix) – 6:19 :B2. "Mundian Breaks" – 3:56 UK cassette single # "Mundian To Bach Ke" (main mix) – 4:02 # "Mundian Breaks" – 3:56 US CD single and 12-inch single 1 # "Beware of the Boys (Mundian To Bach Ke)" (

remix) # "Beware of the Boys (Mundian To Bach Ke)" (original version) # "Beware Breaks (Mundian Breaks)" US 12-inch single 2 :A1. "Beware of the Boys (Mundian To Bach Ke)" (radio edit) :A2. "Beware Breaks (Mundian Breaks)" :B1. "Beware of the Boys (Mundian To Bach Ke)" (Switch mix) US 12-inch single 3 :A1. "Beware of the Boys (Mundian To Bach Ke)" ( Twista remix) :A2. "Beware of the Boys (Mundian To Bach Ke)" (original version) :B1. "Beware Breaks (Mundian Breaks)" Australian CD single # "Mundian To Bach Ke (Beware of the Boys)" (Jay-Z remix radio edit) – 3:00 # "Mundian To Bach Ke (Beware of the Boys)" (original radio edit) – 3:21 # "Mundian To Bach Ke (Beware of the Boys)" (Triple X remix) – 7:53 # "Mundian To Bach Ke (Beware of the Boys)" (Motiva Hi-Lectro mix) – 5:40 # "Beware Breaks (Mundian Breaks)" – 3:56

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

In popular culture

* "Mundian To Bach Ke" is used frequently in western media when

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n characters are introduced or are on screen. It was used on an episode of '' ER'', when Gallant and Neela danced to a version of the song, which Gallant called a "

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

rap". * "Mundian To Bach Ke" was used in ''

America's Best Dance Crew ''America's Best Dance Crew'', often abbreviated as ''ABDC'', was an American competitive dance reality television series that features both national and international dance crews. The show was produced by singer, record producer, and former ''Am ...

'' Season 2 on week 9 of the Around The World challenge as part of the Indian dance section. It also appeared in an episode of the American television show '' Queer as Folk'' during a scene at the club Babylon. A version of this song was used as a background music in the Ginebra San Miguel "Bilog Ang Mundo" ad campaigns in 2003. The song was featured in an episode of '' Entourage''. It was used twice in the pilot of the NBC comedy '' Outsourced''. * "Mundian To Bach Ke" was featured in the 2003 film ''

Bulletproof Monk ''Bulletproof Monk'' is a 2003 American superhero comedy film directed by Paul Hunter in his feature film directorial debut, and starring Chow Yun-fat, Seann William Scott, and Jaime King. The film is loosely based on the comic book written by B ...

''. * "Mundian To Bach Ke" was the song used by Derek Hough and Shawn Johnson in their ''Knight Rider'' bhangra-themed dance in the semi-finals of ''Dancing with the Stars'' (All Stars Season). * The remix of "Mundian To Bach Ke", which featured American rapper

, also on

Dharma Records Dharma Records is a British independent record label. Dharma Records was established in 2002 to run alongside its sister company Instant Karma. Dharma's first release was the top 5 hit single, "Mundian To Bach Ke", by Bhangra artist Panjabi MC. ...

, was featured in the trailer for the 2012 American film '' The Dictator'', as the film's main theme song. * Sports-comedy '' Stick It'' featured the beginning of "Mundian To Bach Ke" in a scene where a group of teens escapes from the arriving police. * "Mundian To Bach Ke" was used in the dance games ''

Dance Central 3 ''Dance Central 3'' is the third game in the ''Dance Central'' series. It was revealed at E3 2012 at the Microsoft Conference. It was released on October 16 in the US, Canada and South America and October 19 everywhere else. Gameplay Gameplay has ...

'' and ''

Just Dance 4 ''Just Dance 4'' is a 2012 music rhythm game developed and published by Ubisoft as the fourth main installment of the ''Just Dance'' series. Announced at E3 2012 by Flo Rida and Aisha Tyler, it was released on the Wii, the Wii U, the PlayStation ...

''. * "Mundian To Bach Ke" was used in the Bollywood film ''

Boom Boom may refer to: Objects * Boom (containment), a temporary floating barrier used to contain an oil spill * Boom (navigational barrier), an obstacle used to control or block marine navigation * Boom (sailing), a sailboat part * Boom (windsurfi ...

'' (2003). * In 2009, German singer Peter Fox

mashed Mashed may refer to: * Mashed, that created from mash ingredients * Mashed, the result of a mashing * Mashed, the result of a mashup (music) * ''Mashed'' (album), a 2007 mashup album * ''Mashed'' (video game), a vehicular combat video game * ...

this song with Seeed's song "Dickes B" during the tour for his solo album ''

Stadtaffe ''Stadtaffe'' ( "urban ape") is the first and only solo album by German musician Peter Fox. Released 26 September 2008, the standard version contains twelve tracks, four of which have been released as singles. Fox performed the single "Schwarz ...

''. * In 2015, it was featured in series 2, episode 2 of the BBC sitcom '' Scot Squad'' as two officers did the 'clocking off' dance. * "Mundian To Bach Ke" was recreated in the Bollywood film '' Baaghi 2'', with lyrics rewritten in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

. * "Mundian To Bach Ke" was featured on

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...

and

's joint On the Run II Tour, mashed up with Beyoncé's " Baby Boy". * "Mundian To Bach Ke" was used on the June 2019

Edexcel Edexcel (also known since 2013 as Pearson Edexcel) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational education and examination body formed in 1996 and wholly owned by Pearson plc since 2005. It is the only privately owned examination board ...

GCSE Music Paper. It featured on the Section B essay along with the track "Release" by

Afro Celt Sound System Afro Celt Sound System is a British musical group who fuse electronic music with traditional Gaelic and West African music. Afro Celt Sound System was formed in 1995 by producer-guitarist Simon Emmerson, and feature a wide range of guest artists. ...

. *"Mundian To Bach Ke", featuring Jay-Z, appears on the soundtrack of the 2021 Netflix movie ''The White Tiger''. *"Mundian To Bach Ke" was used as part of a dance scene within the Closing Ceremony of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. *"Mundian To Bach Ke" in the 21st century was a part of some internet memes, with a video uploaded on YouTube of the song in the extremely loud version titled "loud indian music". The video became popular and featured characters either singing the song or yelling the song.

References

{{Authority control 1998 songs 2002 singles 2003 singles Instant Karma (record label) singles Number-one singles in Greece Number-one singles in Hungary Number-one singles in Italy Panjabi MC songs Punjabi-language songs UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles Ultratop 50 Singles (Wallonia) number-one singles