Amin Sayani: The velvety voice of Radio Azad India fell silent

- Iconic radio announcer Amin Sayani passes away at the age of 91. Through Radio Ceylon, his voice resonated not only in India, but in the entire Indian subcontinent. Amin Sayani was India's first original superstar R.J.

Born in 1932 in a family of Gandhian Gujarati origin

The two generations in India after 1950 who grew up hearing 'Awaaj ki duniya ke doston, behinon aur bhaio, namaskar, main aap ka dost amin sayani bol raha hoon...' have been silenced forever. Sayani's dramatic speaking style made him stand out. After that many other R.J.'s on radio in India. came but no one could get stardom like Amni Sayani.

Amin Sayani was born on December 21, 1932 in a Gandhian family in Mumbai. Raised in Gandhiji's ideology of sarvadharma sambhava. Sayani's roots were in Gujarat. Sayani's father Jan Mohammad was a doctor. Mother Kulsum Patel's father Dr. Rajaballi was the personal doctor of Mahatma Gandhi and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.

His mother Kulsum Sayani was in charge of the 'Rahbar' magazine run under Gandhiji's supervision. The magazine ran in Hindu, Urdu, Gujarati, but under Gandhiji's supervision, its language remained simple. In this, Amin helped Saya's mother and learned the art of communicating with people in simple language, which later became widely used in radio.

Following his elder brother, Amin Sayani became a radio announcer

Amin Sayani R.J. because of Sayani's elder brother Hamid Sayani. became Hamid Sayani Top English in India R.J. but passed away at a young age in 1975. Initially, Amin Sayani also became an English language radio announcer, but later became the most popular radio announcer in Hindi and became the most recognized voice of Azad Indian radio.

Sayani was rejected because of Gujarati style Hindi

Amin Sayani's mother Kulsum Sayani was a Gujarati, so Sayani's Hindi language had a touch of Gujarati. Amin Sayani, who became Hindi's most popular radio announcer, initially did not get a job at All India Radio because his Hindi language had a splash of Gujarati. Radio broadcasts in British Raj were in English, after independence it was decided to broadcast in Hindi. 19-year-old Amin Saya went to audition and was told: Your Hindi language is mixed with Gujarati and English. After coming out of this effect, Amin Sayani created history in Radio Azad India.

Sisters and brothers...

In 1893, all the speakers at the Chicago Conference of Religion were Ladies and Gentlemen. Swami Vivekananda won everyone's hearts by addressing the brothers and sisters. After hearing such an address, the hall of the Dharma Parishad erupted into applause for minutes. Years after that incident, a voice rang out in Radio Ceylon - Beheno Aur Bhaio... These words spoken in a velvety voice later became the hallmark of Radio Ceylon's Binaka hymnal. For years, the speaker became synonymous with the voice of Amin Sayani.

Amin Sayani introduced the address Bhaio Or Bhaio by implementing 'Ladies First' at a time when the terms Bhaio Or Beheno, Bhaio And Beheno, Brothers and Sisters were in vogue. At a time when the era of women's empowerment and women's equality campaigns had not yet begun, when Amin Sayani, who gave priority to sisters across the country, spoke on the radio: Bahno aur bhaio, mein aap ka dost Amin Sayani... the ears of hundreds of Indians perked up on the radio. Amin Sayani was a celebrity radio announcer when the term radio jockey was not in vogue and his voice, his name, was known across the country.

Voiced over 19 thousand jingles

Amin Sayani has also voiced the jingles i.e. radio advertisements. Sayani created a world record by voicing more than 19 thousand jingles, but his real identity remained as a radio jockey who presented interesting programs of Hindi film songs. People in the entertainment industry called Sayani R.J., who popularized radio in India. as unquestioningly accepted.

Binaka ran the Geetmala program from 1952 to 1988

Amin Sayani started the countdown show of Indian film songs in any media in India. Sayani started a new trend by starting a countdown show of Hindi films by Binaka Geetmala every week on Radio Ceylon which is followed today not only by all radio stations but also by TV music channels. From 1952 to 1988, i.e. for 36 years, Amin Sayani became famous by playing Binaka Gitamala. Running a program on radio for 36 consecutive years is no small feat. Because of Binaka Geetmala, Sayani became a superstar not only in the world of radio but also in the world of music. Veteran singers, musicians, lyricists, actor-actresses of Hindi films are also curious to know which song is on top in Binaka Geetmala.

A career record of over 54 thousand radio shows

After running the program for 36 years on Radio Ceylon, Sayani also ran the program on Vidhya Bharati for 6 years and then came back under a different name and ran the program for 4 years. It is a great thing that a program runs for four and a half decades. Sayani did more than 54 thousand radio shows in his life. Amin Sayani gained such popularity due to Binaka Geetmala that people from the Hindi film industry used to clamor to appear on his interview shows. Sayani has interviewed most of the veteran actors of Bollywood in his program. As Sayani runs other shows, he receives thousands of postcards requesting favorite songs.

A decision of Minister Keskar in the Nehru government made Amin Sayani popular

Amin Sayani became a radio superstar, Jawaharlal Nehru government minister B.V. Keskar had a major contribution. After the first Lok Sabha elections in the country in 1952, Nehru made Keskar the Minister of Information and Broadcasting. Keskar banned government radio station All India Radio from playing Hindi film songs, declaring that Hindi film music was obscene. Keskar decreed that only Indian classical music should be played on All India Radio. Taking advantage of Keskar's Fatwa, Radio Silo, established a year earlier, started playing Hindi film songs. Amin Sayani was doing freelance work at All India Radio at that time. Sayani went to Radio Ceylon with a proposal for a talk show related to Hindi film songs. The proposal was approved and the Binaka Gitmala began. Initially, Sayani used to play seven songs from the then new Hindi films, but after a year, Sayani turned it into a countdown show.

In those days two million people used to listen to Sayani every week

Hindi film songs were released on LPs in those days. Based on its sales, Sayani would decide which song has become popular and give a ranking. The show gained immense popularity and in those days around 20 lakh people used to listen to Amin Sayani's show every week, and every week they were curious about which song comes at which number in the Binaka Geetmala. No other show on radio in India has evoked such curiosity. Keskar had to bow out due to the popularity of Sayani's show. Being a politician, he did not allow film songs on All India Radio but started a new radio station called Vidhya Bharati on which film songs were played. Sayani was a well-known name in the old generation but the new generation was also not unfamiliar with his name. A few years ago, Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt's Badrinath Ki Dulhania film Tamma Tamma Again song started with Sayana's commentary.

Sayani withdrew Bachchan without auditioning

Superstar of Hindi films Amitabh Bachchan claimed that he went to give an audition to Amin Sayani but when Sayani refused to take the audition, he decided to concentrate on acting. Amitabh claimed that if Amin Sayani had taken his audition, he would have become a radio broadcaster. Because his first choice was to work in radio.

Amin Sayani invited Amitabh to an award function. The claim made by Amitabh in this program left Sayani surprised. When Sayani later asked his wife Rama about this, Rama admitted that Amitabh Bachchan had come to meet him. Sayani revealed that Amitabh had come to meet him without an appointment, so he must have asked to come to meet him with an appointment.

Amitabh came to meet the second time also without an appointment. His secretary informed himself but he was busy recording and could not be reached. But it did not happen that Amitabh himself refused to audition. Sayani claimed that he became a fan of Amitabh Bachchan after hearing his voice in the film 'Balke Anand'. Sayani once said in reference to this claim that it was good that Amitji did not come to radio, otherwise cinema would not have got a megasuperstar.