Veteran radio presenter Ameen Sayani passes away

Iconic radio presenter Ameen Sayani passed away on Tuesday night, as per reports. He was 91. His son, Rajil Sayani, confirmed his death on Wednesday. According to him, Sayani suffered a heart attack at his house in Mumbai on Tuesday evening. He was rushed to the hospital later where the doctors declared him dead. 

His last rites are likely to take place on Thursday in Mumbai.

Born on December 21, 1932, in Mumbai, Sayani began his career as an English broadcaster in All India Radio. Later, he transitioned to Hindi where his oratory skills earned him popularity among the masses. He also appeared in films like Bhoot Bungla (1965), Teen Devian (1965) and Qatl (1986) where he played the role of an announcer. Most notably, in his early days, Amitabh Bachchan had gone to his office to audition as a radio presenter, however, Sayani had other appointments and couldn’t meet him. Later, after Bachchan attained popularity in films, Sayani had jocularly said in an interview, “I would have been on the streets and he would have got so much work on the radio but Indian cinema would have lost its biggest star.”

Sayani hosted the Binaca Geetmala on Radio Ceylon in 1952 which became widely popular among people in South Asia. It was a weekly collection of top Hindi songs from films. It ran till the year 1994 on Radio Ceylon and later on Vividh Bharati. It was his engaging style of presentation that hooked people to their radio sets whenever the show aired. His signature way of addressing listeners as "Behno aur Bhaiyo" (sisters and brothers) against the traditional “Bhaiyo aur Behno” (brothers and sisters) became instantly recognisable and widely imitated.

In 2009, Sayani was honoured with the Padma Shri Award for his contributions to radio. He also holds the record for being part of over 54,000 radio programs as a voice-over artist, compere and producer.

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