When older people think of Indian Radio, the only one name that resounds in their mind is that of the legendary Ameen Sayani.

I am talking about an era where there was no TV and the only source of entertainment and news was the good old radio.

Most families in India tuned in daily to listen to the BBC, All India Radio or the very popular Radio Ceylon (now called Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation) for their daily dose of “infotainment.

And the one voice that used to rule the air waves was the super melodious voice of a man called Ameen Sayani. One listener even remarked that “Ameen had a special magic in his voice which created theatre in your mind.” Being an avid listener of his shows myself, I agree completely.

Ameen Sayani was born in Mumbai, the youngest of three brothers to Dr. Janmohommed, an MMBS doctor, and Mrs. Kulsum Sayani, a freedom fighter, a justice of the peace and editor of a magazine called ‘Rahber.” She was also the proud recipient of the prestigious Padma Shri and Nehru Literacy Award.

Ameen’s eldest brother went on to become an orthopedic surgeon in the US, his second brother an ad film maker, compere and magician. But Ameen was destined for radio, and made his debut on radio at the tender age of 8 as a voice actor in an English play on AIR.

Later when Ameen auditioned for all India Radio, he was told that as he had traces of an English and Gujarati accent in his voice, he was not suitable for a Hindi announcer. But Sayani was not someone to be so easily deterred from his passion for radio, and proved everyone wrong by going on to become the beloved “King of Radio.”

Other than being an announcer, Ameen has also produced, compered (or spoken for) an awesome 54,000 radio programs and 19,000 radio spots & jingles!

In recognition of the great work he was doing, Ameen was conferred the prestigious Padma Shri award in 2009. Apart from this, Ameen Sayani has also been felicitated with many more awards over the years.

And Ameen’s fame was not only limited to India. His was a voice that was heard worldwide, especially across South Asia where his hit countdown show Binaca Geetmala was also aired.

Till today I still thrill to the memory of his evergreen voice greeting people on the radio with his unique signature welcome, ‘Beheno aur bhaiyo’ A line which has over the years become legendary.

His radio show Binaca Geetmala (later renamed as Cibaca Geetmala, and then Colgate Cibaca Geetmala) was first broadcast in 1952 from Radio Ceylon, (as India still did not have a commercial radio station,) and then later on AIR’s Vividh Bharati till 1994. An awesome span of 42 years.

And it has left a vacuum no other show has been able to fill.

Even in the 2000’s with the advent of FM Radio, Ameen was still ‘Radio Active.’ His show “Sangeet Kay Sitaron Ki Mehfil.” was aired on Red FM from 2003 to 2005. On Radio City from 2013 to 2015 and on Big FM in 2016.

But Ameen’s radio the journey did not stop there.

Saregama Carvaan was launched in 2017, this was in essence, a portable music player that came preloaded with over 5,000 music tracks, including retro classics by legends such as Lata Mangeshkar, RD Burman, Kishore Kumar, Manna Dey, Asha Bhosle, Mohd Rafi, Jagjit Singh, and Mukesh and more. All inter sprinkled with the melodious voice of the legendary Ameen.

Not surprisingly, from Jan to Mar 2022 Saregama sold more than 45,000 units. And even today, more and more people are getting hooked onto these evergreen songs of the yester years.

Ameen also voiced the intros and outros for Audible – for their Indian platform Sunoh.

Ameen did not see ’podcasts’ as a competition to radio, rather he viewed it as an ‘extension of radio.’

He also hoped that in the future, radio channels are given more freedom (as long as it’s within the parameters of the broadcasting code), including permission to broadcast the news.

He also strongly recommended that radio channels re-think their content.

It would be good, he once said, to get some differentiation/contrast in station content within the same city, as it is in the US – one channel plays jazz, one has talk shows, one has country music etc. This would greatly increase listenership on radio.

In tribute to this legendary artiste XIC (Xavier’s Institute of Communication) have also named their first Sound Studio after him. But as his son Rajil Sayani pointed out, the difference between the two studios is that the equipment at Ameen’s studio also has analogue equipment.

Sadly, on 20^th February, we lost this golden voice of Radio. We end this tribute to this legendary artiste with one of his own quotes. "The best radio program… is one that you can “see."

Ameen’s Radio Memories:

When quizzed about the famous episode of him flunking Amitabh at a radio audition, Ameen smiles and says that the audition never ever happened!

What actually happened was this:

One day Ameen’s secretary came in and told him that someone had come for an audition. (This was during the period when Ameen was recording 30 to 40 programs a day, and when his lunch was a quick sandwich eaten in the recording studio itself.)

So Ameen told his secretary to ask the person to take an appointment and then come for an audition. Also by a miscommunication, the name conveyed to him was ‘Amita Bachchan.’

The person did come back, but again without an appointment, and because of his busy schedule, Ameen was again unable to audition him. So the fact is that Amitabh never ever auditioned for radio.

Asked about his most memorable radio memory, Ameen says it has to be the one he did with Kishore Kumar.

Ameen wanted to record a special message from Kishore Kumar for an annual Geetmala program, featuring messages from famous singers. Getting to meet Kishore, however, was difficult.

After a lot of effort and follow up, Kishore agreed to meet Ameen at a particular studio. Ameen reached the studio well in time, only to be told that Kishore had left a message saying that, “He will come to the studio… only after Ameen left.”

This upset Ameen so much, that he decided never to ask Kishore Kumar for an interview ever again.

Years later however, one day Kishore Kumar had come to Ameen Sayani’s Sound studio to participate in the radio publicity of his own films.

When Kishore Kumar entered the recording room, he was met by Ameen, who informed him that he had 2 pehelwan’s stationed outside the door, and that he had instructed them to beat Kishore to a pulp, if he dared to leave the studio without recording an interview with him!

Initially Kishore was alarmed, but then he caught on and realised it was all a joke.

Kishore then instructed Ameen to sit quietly in a corner, and went on to interview himself in several different voices!

That says Ameen, was truly the very best interview of his career.

By Noel Keymer