Tag Archives: Ameen Sayani

For decades, Ameen Sayani brought music into the homes of millions of radio listeners

Mumbai, MAHARASHTRA :

Sayani not only hosted Binaca Geetmala for 42 years, he produced more than 50,000 radio programmes, including the popular Bournvita Quiz Contest, and managed to transition from radio to television with seamless ease.

Ameen Sayani, who passed away at the age of 91 due to a heart attack. | Photo Credit: Hardeep Singh Puri-X

He painted with the spoken word and ended up filling our canvas with rich memories of his mellifluous voice and popular songs of Hindi cinema. A word that dropped off his lips got a life, a lilt, even destiny of its own. Listening to Ameen Sayani, who passed away in Mumbai following a heart attack on Tuesday evening, was like serenading joy. The Binaca Geetmala he hosted with much relish and not a little chutzpah gave millions of weary listeners of first, Radio Ceylon, and then Vividh Bharati, a reason to smile at the end of the day. For a brief while every week, from 1952 to 1994, it seemed there was no sorrow in life, and the music of life itself had an unending rhythm of its own. Until it all came to an end when Sayani, who had been battling age-related issues for a few years, breathed his last at HN Reliance Hospital, leaving his fans speechless.

The tributes came in thick and fast with Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeting: “Shri Ameen Sayani Ji’s golden voice on the airwaves had a charm and warmth that endeared him to people across generations. Through his work, he played an important role in revolutionising Indian broadcasting and nurtured a very special bond with his listeners.” Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, stated, “He had an equally sweet voice as the songs.” Seasoned actor Raza Murad called him “the badshah of radio just like Lata Mangeshkar was the badshah of music”.

The praise was hard-earned. Sayani not only hosted Binaca Geetmala for 42 years, he produced more than 50,000 radio programmes, including the popular Bournvita Quiz Contest and the well-received S. Kumar ka Filmi Muqadma besides Saridon ke Saathi, and managed to transition from radio to television with seamless ease. He composed around 19,000 radio jingles, too. Such was the charm of Sayani that playback singers, music directors and film stars, all wanted their songs to be featured on his countdown show. Once renowned film director Basu Chatterjee wondered aloud what did he have to do for the songs of his films to make it to Binaca Geetmala! His prayers were answered, and the songs of both Chhoti si Baat and Rajnigandha earned repeat slots in Binaca Geetmala in the 1970s.

There is an interesting story behind Binaca Geetmala, and how some 37 years later, it became Cibaca Geetmala with a jingle announcing, “Wohi gun, wohi kaam, Binaca ka sirf badla hai naam” (same values, same work, only Binaca’s name is changed).

Back in the early years of Indian Independence, there was a pronounced effort to promote classical music. The Information and Broadcasting Minister B.V. Keskar did not have much regard or space for Hindi film songs on All India Radio (AIR). With AIR limiting itself to merely 10% for Hindi cinema, Radio Ceylon, then riding waves of popularity, stepped in with its combination of English, Tamil and Hindi music. Sayani was to make his first splash not in what was then Bombay but Ceylon.

It so happened that an American businessman, Daniel Molina, hired Hamid Sayani, Ameen’s elder brother, to run the operations at Radio Ceylon. The elder brother, in turn, brought in his sibling, Ameen, then barely 20, to host a music show. The programme was sponsored by a Swedish company Ciba, the manufacturers of Binaca toothpaste. The name Binaca was prefixed to the ‘Geetmala’. It played popular songs of the week though it would be another couple of years before the countdown started. And Sayani devised a vocabulary all his own.

Added to his easy, conversational style were terms like ‘paydaan’ or rank. He backed it up with information about the songs and little anecdotes about the films. For instance, he told the listeners how it took 16 years to make Mughal-e-Azam, or how Lata Mangeshkar sang the songs of Satyam Shivam Sundaram at one go. Or why Amitabh Bachchan kept his hand in the pocket during a song from Sharaabi. These were little gems only Sayani, who began his programmes with trademark remark, “Behno aur bhaiyo, main hun apka radio dost Ameen Sayani”, could offer.

He played Hindi film music, the kind which was first available on LPs, then on music cassettes. Yet when he played snatches of it on radio, there was an indefinable charm. Added to the joy was anxiety to see which song would rise to the top in those rather innocent days, and his unique ability to keep the suspense going.

The show shifted to Vividh Bharati in the late 1980s before the curtain fell one last time in 1994. As a tribute, Saregama released a 10 volume compilation called ‘Ameen Sayani Presents Geetmala Ki Chhaon Mein’. It apprised the next generation with the programme’s illustrious history.

Back in the late 1970s, Jnanpith winner Gulzar had penned a timeless song, ‘Naam gum jayega, chehra ye badal jayega, meri awaaz hi pehchan hai’ for the film Kinara. The song, a regular on Geetmala, was widely played at the demise of Lata Mangeshkar. One could play it again for the matchless Ameen Sayani, the Padma Vibhushan winner who gave radio a new identity altogether.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> India / by Ziya Us Salam / February 21st, 2024

Many facets of an activist

GUJARAT / Mumbai, MAHARASHTRA :

ducationist par excellence: Kulsum Sayani (Centre) with her sons, radio broadcaster Ameen Sayani (left) and Hamid Sayani. (Courtesy: Sayanis)
ducationist par excellence: Kulsum Sayani (Centre) with her sons, radio broadcaster Ameen Sayani (left) and Hamid Sayani. (Courtesy: Sayanis)

She was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi to unite Hindi and Urdu. Kulsum Sayani also worked tirelessly for adult literacy…

“Each one, teach one”, one of the most effective schemes to promote education today was popularised by a woman few remember, but who was a pioneer in the field of adult literacy in India.

Kulsum Sayani’s name might not ring a bell for many but her life and work are truly remarkable. Mother of the well-known radio personality Ameen Sayani, Kulsum was born in 1900. Her inspiration was none other than Mahatma Gandhi. Her father, Dr Rajabally Patel, was the personal physician to Gandhiji and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.

During the several protest meets organised against the visit of the Prince of Wales to Bombay in 1921, the city had become volatile. The result was baton charges, arrests and martial laws. There were dozens of people wounded, and seriously injured.

Describing those trying times, Kulsum Sayani wrote, “A new Congress hospital was founded to care for the wounded. My late husband Jan Mohamed Sayani was the first physician to be put in charge of it. We had a small Saxon car with the Red Cross badge prominently showing on it. My husband would go to the hospital daily, practically on totally deserted roads lined up with policemen on both sides. I would be sitting by the phone until he called from the hospital telling me of his safe arrival.”

Sayani’s interactions with Gandhiji and the importance attached to education in her family made her realise the need to eradicate illiteracy. In 1938, with a capital of Rs. 100 she employed two teachers and made the rounds of Muslim localities to get students. Considering the conservative attitude towards female education even now, imagine the effort it must have taken on Sayani’s part to convince families about the importance of educating girls at that time. There were times people used to slam their doors on her face, exclaiming, “Why should women learn to read?”

Her tireless efforts proved that there was a tremendous need to work in the field of education, which needed a more organised set-up. Her experience made her a part of several committees, which were formed to increase literacy among adults in Bombay, now Mumbai. She was associated with the first National Planning Committee that was set up by the Congress government in Bombay in 1938. The Bombay City Social Education Committee, formed in 1939, asked Sayani to take over their 50 centres catering to Muslim women. Slowly and steadily the classes grew and reached 600 in number. Of course, her efforts were not limited to the Muslim community alone. She was also appointed the general secretary of the All India Women’s Conference in 1944 and worked for the empowerment of women.

But it was in spreading the word on education that she is best remembered. The New Delhi edition of ‘The Times of India’ (March 10, 1970) noted, “From 1939 when she (Kulsum Sayani) took charge of the Bombay City Social Education Committee five lakh adults have become literate through one of the five languages – Urdu, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi and Telugu. Her days are a mad rush of dashing to schools to enthuse children into teaching adults and her nights are spent dreaming up new schemes of literacy.”

Dedicated

Sayani was very pragmatic and initiated several schemes to spread literacy, notably including “Each one, teach one”. She used to visit several schools and encourage young students to devote 15 minutes every day to teach one adult. Under the scheme, students were supposed to teach and read one new alphabet every day to any adult in their family, neighbourhood or domestic helpers. Highly conscious of the importance of moral values, she encouraged students to request adults to tell them a folk tale or a story from the epics.

“The lower middle-class women, who are forced to work, have no help but to abandon their children to the streets after school, while the fashionable ones have no time left for children after bridge and mah-jong parties,” she once said.

Another literacy initiative she initiated was reading out aloud. School students were encouraged to gather friends and adults and each one had to read out aloud. This, she believed, was necessary to improve the confidence and interest of neo-literates. To ensure the success of these schemes she used to visit three to four schools every week meeting and egg students on.

During the freedom struggle hundreds of political prisoners languishing in jails improved their Hindustani by reading out aloud ‘Rahber’, the newspaper she brought out. ‘Rahber’, started in 1940, was aimed at the new learners. It was published in three scripts – Nagari, Urdu and Gujarati. The language of ‘Rahber’ was Hindustani, a mixture of Hindi and Urdu. Those were the times when the Hindi supporters were using heavy Sanskrit words and the proponents of Urdu were lacing the language with Persian and Arabic in their efforts to distinguish the two languages and establish their superiority.

Support

Gandhiji was in favour of Hindustani written in the Nagari or the Urdu script. ‘Rahber’ sought to take forward Gandhiji’s idea of Hindustani. In a letter dated June 16, 1945, Gandhiji addressed Sayani as ‘Beti Kulsum’ and wrote: “I like the mission of ‘Rahber’ to unite Hindi and Urdu. May it succeed.” The newspaper was read by hundreds of political prisoners lodged in jails across the country; anyone interested in learning Gandhiji’s Hindustani picked up the paper.

When the Constituent Assembly deliberations began in the months leading to India’s Independence, the language controversy erupted again. A letter dated July 22, 1947, from Gandhiji to Sayani, shows his resolve to stick with Hindustani. He wrote: “Heaven knows what is in store for us. The old order changeth giving place to new. Nothing is settled. Whatever is decided by the C.A., Hindustani with the two scripts remains for you and me.”

Sayani also represented India at several international forums on education across the world. She attended the UNESCO conference in 1953 in Paris (France) and shared ideas and gained new perspectives after talking with representatives from several countries. Her other interest was to promote peace and increase understanding between India and Pakistan. Her well known status as an activist helped her get audiences with top leaders in both the countries. Among Pakistani politicians, she directly met Pakistani presidents, Ghulam Mohammad and Ayub Khan, among other senior leaders.

In India, her reputation as ‘Rahber’s’ editor helped her get appointments with Nehru, B.G. Kher, V.K. Krishna Menon, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai and Indira Gandhi. She received encouragement and support from politicians of all hues in India for her efforts to forge a friendship with Pakistan. However, after the passing away of Nehru and Rafi Kidwai, who shared her concerns on improving relations with Pakistan, she devoted her energies to propagating Hindustani.

Sayani’s life is an inspiration to many. Married when she was only 18, she managed her family and pursued her social interests with equal elan. Her sons, Hamid and Ameen, both radio broadcasters, created their own identity. Ameen Sayani attributes his “basic grounding in clear and credible communications in Hindustani” to his involvement in assisting his mother in bringing out ‘Rahber’.

Old age and bureaucratic red tape forced her to stop ‘Rahber’ in 1960 after she had single-handedly brought it out for 20 years. She continued to be associated with the Hindustani Prachar Sabha and organised several lectures and seminars

She never lost focus from her lifelong passion to eradicate illiteracy. She received the Padma Shri in 1960 and was also awarded the Nehru Literacy Award in 1969.

Sayani, who died in 1987, belonged to an era when people believed in giving their best to the nation without expecting anything in return.

(© Women’s Feature Service)

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> History / by Danish Khan / August 14th, 2010