Ameen Sayani is passes away
PrashantNews
Ameen Sayani, who popularized the Binaca Geet Mala on Radio Ceylon for decades and became the voice of Bollywood, passed away in Mumbai on Tuesday night following a heart attack, media reports said. He was 91.
Starting the programme in fifties, Sayani used his mellifluous voice to enthrall the radio listeners every Wednesday from 8 PM to 9 PM through the popular programme Binaca (later Cibaca) Geetmala. The programme continued till late nineties without any disruption on Radio Ceylon and for a small period on Vividh Bharti.
Sayani compared or produced 54,000 radio programmes.
Who can forget when he would declare “behno aur bhaiyo, yeh geet ab banane ja raha hai sartaj geet” (This song is going to become the crown song after being played for more than 18 times and would not be played again).
He also used to rue when he would love a song like “man kyon behka” from flim Utsav for not being on the top always. But much before Raj Kapoor’s blockbuster Ram Teri Ganga maili was released, the song “sun sahiba sun” was already a rage and became no 1 on the Binaca Geetmala.
“I used to enjoy Binaca Geetmala and would remain glue to radio during that one hour on every Wednesday,” said Sushma Khajuria, who lives in England now.
According to Wikipedia, the Binaca Geetmala show was hosted throughout its entire run by Sayani. It was very popular in India with estimated listenership ranging from nine lakh to twenty lakh, it said. The programme greatly increased the popularity of Radio Ceylon making it the primary source of popular film music on radio for the Indian subcontinent.
Shri Amin Syani, a popular voice of radio. He made Binaca Geet Mala, a program popular in every household of India. We all waited eagerly to hear that program on every Wednesday from radio Cylon.
He anchoed many stage shows in India and abroad. Not only in India he was quite popular all over the world with Indian community.
God may rest his soul in peace.
Rip