A year and half back, while I was shooting an informal documentary on Ameen Sayani, he recalled playing Macbeth while he was at school in Gwalior. He recited the following lines for us:

“Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow … creeps in this petty pace from day to day ... to the last syllable of recorded time ... and all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty deathOut, out, brief candle …
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more....
It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

His sound and fury was captivating. These lines make us come to terms with death and the lightness of life.

It is upsetting that the master of vocal jugglery, full of charm, warmth and style, is no more. However, it is comforting to think of his life and the legacy he has left behind for his fans in the way of precious recordings and memories. 

My first listening of Binaca Geetmala

I was seven-year-old when I first heard Binaca Geet Mala on a small transistor on a summery evening. I fell in love with the anchor -- Ameen Sayani’s—voice. Little did I know that I might move to Mumbai and get to know his son Rajil, and through his son, the legend himself. Sayani was a wonderful person despite his dominance and achievements in the radio world. 

They don’t make people like him anymore. He was simple, gifted, hard-working, principled, determined, loving, caring, appreciative, respectful and one of the most-admired icons of all times.

On Tuesday, the most mellifluous voice of on Radio breathed its last (barely a month after he celebrated his 91st birthday on 21 December, 2023) at HN Reliance Hospital in Mumbai after being taken there, after he suffered a heart attack.

With Ameen Sayani’s death, it is the end of an era of radio announcers. With Sayani gone we have also lost the romance of radio announcements, which grew upon us slowly and imperceptibly during our formative years.

A series of exciting coincidences

After that fateful radio exposure of mine on that summer evening, I became a radio junkie waiting to snort anything which had film songs and Sayani in it. And in the 70s, there was plenty of it.

For those of us who can recall and many others who can imagine …Binaca Geetmala, S Kumar ka Filmi Muqadama, Filmi Mulaqaat, Bournvita Quizz contest, Shalimar Superlac Jodi, Sitaron Ki Pasand, Chamakte Sitaare, Mehekti Baatein, Sangeet Ke Sitaaron Ki Mehfil and the countless 15-minute promotional programmes for the upcoming new releases in an era of no television, had reached cult status.

I’m not surprised at all when I came to know that Sayani's career had spanned over six decades, producing and presenting over 54,000 radio programs and 19,000 voice-overs for advertisements and jingles.

Most of it, however, is a series of exciting coincidences. First when he was, asked to do a recording for Ovaltine Phulwari and he shouted at the top of his voice with all energy and enthusiasm. And then when he was asked to retain the energy and enthusiasm but also make it conversational not shout at the top of his voice, the young Ameen, it seems, could learn things fast. Which must be the reason that from being a boy studying in a Gujarati Medium School called New Era, used to language like, by his own admission, “ayela … gayela … khali peeli bo marta hai” he went on to master the formal Hindustani to the delight of lay people and the connoisseurs alike.

Then came the recommendation of his father’s friend suggesting he be sent to a public school, which is how he went to Scindia in Gwalior. And eventually, the guidance of his loving older brother, Hamid Sayani, who passed away young but not before having guided Ameen into portals of stardom.

The opening of opportunities due the Radio Ceylon association too, is supremely serendipitous.

The then I&B Minister of India, Balakrishna Vishwanath Keskar who believed Indian music had degenerated and had banned it on All India Radio and Vividh Bharti. Two international entrepreneurs took the opportunity to shift the entire Hindi film entertainment publicity to Radio Ceylon
and Ameen Sayani ruled the scenario. His programs spawned dozens of announcers, all of whom wanted to speak like Ameen Sayani, much like how everyone wanted to dress and sport hair like Rajesh Khanna.

What made Sayani such a cult phenomenon?

To begin with, no one could say ‘Namaskar Behno aur Bhaiyon, main aapka dost Ameen Sayani bol raha hoon’. The voice and the lines had a hypnotic effect on the collective psyche of the nation. Like the Pied Piper, Sayani galvanized like-minded people together and held us all in a spell.

Then of course, his authenticity. He chose to play on his strengths and never imitated anyone else. He was also very hard-working and coupled it with a sense of perfection. He had no trace of personal ego and took both success and bumps all in the same stride.

Lucky to meet him, know him

Much later, when I came to Mumbai and had an opportunity to start interacting him on and off, through his son, Rajil, who had become a friend by then, I could always sense a certain awe and fan-moment whenever I met him. That I could feature him in my film on RD Burman, Pancham Unmixed was an added honour for me.

In the 70s, Ameen Sayani dominated the radio soundscape in a manner similar to how Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Kishore Kumar, Mohammad Rafi, Mukesh, Manna Dey, Lata Mangeskar, Asha Bhosle dominated the music and entertainment world. For me, he’s someone I have idolized and loved so much due to his authenticity and simplicity. It’s sad that by the time Rajil and I were narrowing down the possibility to create a film on him, he was past his prime both in terms of the strength of voice as well as his elephantine memory. And yet, the moment, he had the mike in front of him, the energy levels easily trebled.

I consider myself fortunate to have known him a little bit and spent some time with him. For me, he is and will always be a colossus who programmed and executed innumerable programmes in a matter of fact way which today carries the stamp of a genius.

For me, and for the world of radio listeners, his voice will always have the magic it had when I was 7-8 years old and heard it for the first time on a transistor.

Brahmanand S Siingh is a two-National Award winning and multiple award-winning filmmaker, author and speaker based out of Mumbai