Gen-Z Jaaga Hai — When a Song Found Its Protest

“Neend udaani satta ki… Gen-Z jaaga hai.”

When I wrote Gen-Z Jaaga Hai, the intention was not to write a song for a particular political party, leader, movement or protest. It was meant to capture a feeling — the growing frustration of a generation that is watching the world around it and beginning to ask uncomfortable questions.

The song speaks about polluted air and poisoned rivers, naari suraksha, injustice, hate politics, corporate influence, empty promises and the growing sense that ordinary people are too often expected to simply accept what is happening around them.

But the song is not written from anger alone. Its central emotion is determination.

The repeated call-and-response —

“Neend udaani satta ki…”
“Gen-Z jaaga hai.”

— was deliberately written as something that could be shouted by one person and answered by a crowd. It was meant to say that young people do not have to remain passive observers of the world they are inheriting.

And then something unexpected happened.

From a song to an expression

As student protests over the NEET examination crisis and wider concerns about India's education system gathered momentum in 2026, Gen-Z Jaaga Hai began appearing in Instagram reels associated with the emerging youth protest culture.

The protests brought together students and young people frustrated by issues including examination irregularities, paper leaks, unemployment and the pressure surrounding India's highly competitive education system. International and Indian media have documented the scale of the movement and the significant role played by social media in mobilising and expressing that frustration.

What fascinated me was seeing people take a song that had not been written specifically for their protest and make it their own.

At the time of writing, around 3,000 Instagram reels have been created using the song's audio.

That number is exciting, but the number itself isn't what matters most to me.

What matters is why people are using it.

The song doesn't name a political party. It doesn't name a politician. It doesn't tell people which party to support. Instead, it gives voice to a broader question:

What happens when a generation stops accepting bad governance, injustice and indifference as normal?

That question seems to have resonated with young people who were already finding their own ways to express themselves.

The power of “Hum”

One of the most important choices in the song was the use of “hum” — we.

It isn't “main”. It isn't one person lecturing everyone else about what they should do.

It is we.

Humne dekha.
Humne samjha.
Hum yaad rakhenge.
Hum poochte rahenge.
Hum badlenge.

That makes the song less of a speech and more of a collective statement.

And perhaps that is why it can travel beyond the circumstances in which it was originally written.

A student protesting an examination system can hear it differently from someone making a reel about pollution. Someone concerned about women's safety can find something different in it. Someone frustrated by inequality or discrimination can make it their own.

The issues may be different, but the underlying sentiment is the same:

We are watching. We are questioning. And we are no longer willing to remain silent.

A song that arrived at the right moment

There is an interesting irony in all of this.

Gen-Z Jaaga Hai was released before the recent wave of student protests. Yet when those protests gathered momentum, the song was already there — with a hook that sounded almost tailor-made for a generation finding its collective voice.

The recent protests have demonstrated just how powerful social media has become as a space for youth political expression. Instagram in particular has increasingly become a place where India's Gen-Z communicates not only through entertainment and trends, but also through satire, political commentary and activism.

The song therefore took on a meaning beyond its original creation.

I wrote the words.

But thousands of people are now giving those words their own context.

And that, to me, is one of the most rewarding things that can happen to a song.

Not a party song. A question.

Gen-Z Jaaga Hai is not intended to be the anthem of one political party or one political camp.

It is a challenge to power itself.

Governments change. Parties change. Leaders change.

But the responsibility of citizens remains.

A democracy works when people ask questions, demand accountability and refuse to treat injustice as inevitable.

And if the younger generation truly holds the key to India's future, then perhaps the most important thing is that they realise it sooner rather than later.

The song ends with:

“Hum yaad rakhenge
Hum poochte rahenge
Aur jab waqt aayega…
Hum badlenge.”

Perhaps the most powerful part of this song was never meant to be the music.

It was the word “hum.”

Because when one person sings, it is a song.

When thousands sing it together, it becomes a voice.