With the passing of AMEEN SAYANI, the Radio and Advertising world has lost the best voice ever heard on these mediums. He was a doyen in the field of radio announcer/presenter. He was born in the Dawoodi Bohra family on 21st December 1932.
He achieved fame and popularity across the Indian sub-continent, and wherever Hindi film music lovers stayed across the world when he presented his weekly programme of a hit parade of Hindi film songs called ‘Binaca Geetmala’ on Radio Ceylon. He was perhaps the biggest radio announcer, and one of the most imitated ones also. His signature style of addressing the audience with “Behno aur Bhaiyo” as against the traditional system of “Bhaiyo Aur Brhno” is still treated as an announcement with a melodious touch.
He started assisting his mother, Kulsum Sayani, in editing, publishing, and printing a fortnightly journal, which was based on Mahatma Gandhi’s idea, called ‘Rahber’. This journal was simultaneously published in Hindi, Urdu, and Gujarati. It was this training in simple communication that helped him in his long career in commercial broadcasting.
He was introduced to All India Radio (AIR), Bombay by his elder brother Hamid Sayani. Ameen participated in English programmes there for 10 years.
The ‘Binaca Geetmala’ which started broadcasting in 1952, on Radio Ceylon became his career milestone. Initially, the programme was for half an hour duration and presented 7 top hit songs of Hindi films of the week. After the programme became popular the duration was increased to one hour with 16 top songs of the week. Then at the year closing, the Geetmala used to air the top 32 songs of the year in two weekly programmes. I still remember, during my early childhood in the 1950s, in one of his weekly broadcasts, he explained how the top 32 songs were selected. The system was, in the weekly programme the song which was ranked 16 was given 1 point, and the same way the number 15 ranked song would get 2 points, and in the end number 1 ranked song would get 16 points. Based on the points earned by each song broadcasted during the annual list of the top 32 songs prepared, with song scoring the highest aggregate points over the weeks will be honoured with the top position.
In the year 2020, I wrote two blogs where I gave the details of the top songs of every year starting from the 1950s to the 1990s. The links to those two blogs are
http://dailyhappenings.in/207-20 and
http://dailyhappenings.in/211-20
Binaca Geetamala was such a big craze in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, that any connected to the making of Hindi film songs wanted his/her song to be featured on this weekly hit parade, be it the singers, lyricists or music directors. Most of the music directors of that era had openly admitted that whenever they composed a song, their wish would be that this song should feature in Binaca Geetmala for a long time. During those days Ameen Sayani was always pampered by music directors, singers etc. who wanted to remain in his good books, so their songs could find a place in the weekly hit parade.
One little-known fact about him is that he worked in the marketing department of Tata Oil Mills Ltd. During 1960-62, to supplement his income, as rumours were floating around that the Indian Government might ban programmes of overseas radios.
Other than Binaca Geetmala, which later became Cibaca Geetmala, here are some other radio shows produced or/and presented by Ameen Sayani:
1 S Kumar Ka Filmi Muqaddama– which was broadcast over AIR and Vividh Bharti for 7 years.
2 Saridon Ke Saathi– on AIR for 4 years.
3 Bourvita Quiz Contest– for 8 years. He took over from his brother and guru, Hamid Sayani, after his death in 1975.
4 Shalimar Superlac Jodi– for 7 years.
5 Maratha Darbar shows: Sitaron Ki Pasand, Chamaktay Sitare, Mehekti Baaten, etc. for 14 years.
6 Sangeet Kay Sitaron Ki Mehfil– for 4 years. The format comprises interviews and musical career sketches of top singers, composers, and lyricists; this programme was syndicated to various radio stations in India and abroad, and their commercial clients.
In the mid-2010s, he produced an unusual retrospective of his flagship radio show Geetmala (Binaca/Cibaca) on audio CDs for Saregama India Ltd. The series is called ‘Geetmala Ki Chhaon Mein’, which is available in 8 volumes ( each of 5 CDs). In this series of CDs, Ameen Sayani has presented the top 32 songs of every year and other songs that could not enter in top annual list of 32 songs. A real collector’s item, I could get a few volumes, which I regularly listen to.
In his career, Ameen Sayani produced and hosted over 54,000 radio programmes and lent his voice to almost 19,000 jingles. His achievement earned him recognition in the Limca Book of Records. He also appeared in a few films, as a presenter/announcer including Bhoot Bangla and Teen Deviyan. In the year 2009, he was awarded Padma Shri by the Indian government.
He was also awarded ‘GoldenAbby’ by Advertising Club, Bombay (2000) for the ‘Outstanding Radio Campaign of The Century’ (Binaca/Cibaca Geetmala). ‘Hall of Fame’ award (1993) from the Indian Academy of Advertising Film Art. ‘Gold Medal’ (1991) from the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA).
In the end, Ameen Sayani will always be remembered by Radio listeners, who were mesmerized by his voice for more than 6 decades.
R I P
Waiting for your views on this blog.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
22nd February 2024