Ebullient voice of a harmonious India
Ameen Sayani was an iconic Indian radio announcer and radio jockey.
Born into an elite multilingual political Gujarati Muslim Khoja Ismailia family in Bombay, he spoke impeccable Hindi and English. His style had a lot of ‘adab’ (refinement). Immaculately dressed, utterly charming and incredibly humble, Radio was everything to him.
For a decade, he was an English-language presenter for All India Radio, Bombay, thanks to his broadcaster brother Hamid. His audition later for AIR’s Hindi service was rejected because of a slight Gujarati accent.
Ameen’s journey to radio superstardom began not on AIR, but on neighbouring Radio Ceylon. B.V. Keskar, the first I & B minister and a high-minded purist, in 1952, banned Hindi language film songs altogether calling their lyrics irrational, vulgar, westernised and a threat to Indian classical music. This upset film producers and record companies.
Daniel Molina, an American businessman engaged Hamid to run his Ceylon radio operations. His brother Ameen was hired to host Binaca Geetmala (garland of songs), a weekly countdown show of Bollywood songs, sponsored by Swedish company Ciba’s toothpaste brand Binaca, later rebranded Cibaca.
The brothers would record the show at their Bombay studio and send magnetic tapes by plane to Radio Ceylon, circumventing Indian government’s jurisdiction. Bollywood songs were thus elevated to a popular art form.
Twenty-year-old Ameen Sayani’s cheery, cheeky greeting “Namaste behno aur bhaiyon, main aapka dost Ameen Sayani bol raha hoon” coasted on airwaves into countless homes every Wednesday on Radio Ceylon (1952 to 1988) and later over Vividh Bharati (AIR) (1989 to 1994), a total of over 42 years.
His fresh, joyous style, his lilting note of defiance and reversal of the traditional greeting; and his pet phrases – “behnon aur bhaiyon and aur ab agli padaan par” became wildly popular. His voice was different from the restrained style of broadcasting prevalent those days. He conjured the image of a sincere friend speaking directly to each listener through their radio set.
His unique style was actually developed as a result of the poor acoustics and limitations of his studio. He had to speak over the street noise that would seep into the studio while recording.
The show’s format was simple. Based on his listeners’ favourite songs, ranking and record sales, he would introduce each song with the name of the writer, composer, and singer, and narrate an anecdote about them, their struggles and dedication. He would then play 16 Hindi film songs in ascending order of popularity, the final one being introduced with a bugle, or in his words, with a Bigul. At its peak, the show had about 400 radio clubs.
In 1994, video killed the radio star and the enormous popularity of countdown shows on satellite channels and song compilation shows on Doordarshan, saw Geetmala being switched off.
His other long running radio shows include S. Kumar’s Ka Filmi Muqaddama and Filmi Mulaqaat; Saridon Ke Saathi; Bournvita Quiz Contest (English which he took over after Hamid’s death); Shalimar Superlac Jodi; a radio series Swanaash, based on actual HIV/AIDS; and an unusual retrospective of his flagship radio show Geetmala on CDs called Geetmala Ki Chhaon Mein.
Ameen also graced the silver screen with his presence, appearing in cameo roles, often as an announcer. The Limca Book of Records credits him in a six decade career with over 54,000 radio programmes and 19,000 spots/jingles since 1951.
Among his awards include Padma Shri award (2009), the Hindi Ratna Puraskaar 2007; the Living Legend Award (2006); Golden Abby, Bombay (2000); Hall of Fame Award (1993); Person of the Year Award (1992); etc.
Frail and with delicate memory, towards the end, Ameen declined to meet people, busy writing his memoirs, but occasionally recorded his captivating voice.
Ameen died of a heart attack in Mumbai aged 91, survived by his son Rajil. The popular voice fell silent one final time.