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Ameen Sayani (1932-2024) A voice that glued a new nation
Updated On: 22 February, 2024 05:30 AM IST | Mumbai | Upala KBR
Mahesh Bhatt and Derek O’Brien explain why Ameen Sayani was more than just a radio announcer in post-Independence India
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Ameen Sayani
Late last year, Mahesh Bhatt got a call from Derek O’Brien, inquiring whether he wanted to join him to meet Ameen Sayani. The distance to his north Mumbai residence, Bhatt admits, was long. “But we were going to meet our childhood hero,” he exclaims. The filmmaker was among the millions across generations, who from the ’50s, had found a companion in their living room as that warm voice on radio greeted them with, “Namaskar bhaiyon aur behno, main aapka dost Ameen Sayani bol raha hoon.”
To many, he was that familiar voice of the popular countdown show, Binaca Geetmala, beginning in 1952 on Radio Ceylon, later moving to Vividh Bharati. His six-decade-plus career was a rich tapestry representing the country’s changing soundscape as he hosted radio shows, and conducted interviews with stars of the music world on Sangeet Kay Sitaron Ki Mehfil. After his brother Hamid Sayani’s demise in 1975, he also took on the hosting duties for Bournvita Quiz Contest on Vividh Bharati. As a versatile voice-over artist, he hosted over 54,000 radio programmes and lent his voice to approximately 19,000 jingles.
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