Ameen Sayani was a popular radio announcer in India who got his fame through presenting the radio show Binaca Geetmala. In his radio program, he was assigned the task of announcing hit songs over the airwaves of Radio Ceylon. His style of speaking and announcing used to set him different from other radio announcers of his time.
By now, I am sure that you all must have heard the news that Ameen Sayani has passed away at the age of 91 years. Some people on the internet are still wondering, “Who was radio announcer Ameen Sayani?”. Well, I will answer that and more here. He had a full life and a full story to tell. So today in this article we will have a look at Radio Presenter Ameen Sayani Death, Age, Wife, Net Worth & full Biography.
| Basic Biography/Wiki | Information |
|---|---|
| Full name | Ameen Sayani |
| Born / Date of birth | 21 December 1932 |
| Date of Death | 20 February 2024 |
| Age (at the time of Death) | 91 Years |
| Cause of Death | Heart attack |
| Place of Death | HN Reliance Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Profession or Career field | Radio Announcer, Radio jockey |
| Famous for | Presenting the Radio show, “Binaca Geetmala” |
Early life: Parents, Siblings
| Birthplace | Bombay, Bombay Presidency, British India |
| Father Name | Jan Mohamed Sayani (Physician) |
| Mother Name | Kulsum Sayani (Social Activist) |
| Brother Name | Hamid Sayani (big brother) (Radio Jockey) |
| Sister | n/a |
| Zodiac sign or Sun Sign | Sagittarius |
| Hometown | Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
| Address | Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
| Mother tongue | Urdu, Hindi |
| Religion | Islam |
| Food Habits and Choices | – |
| Hobbies and interests | Commentary, Music listening, Writing, Singing |
Physical Appearance: Height, Weight & Measurements
| Physical stats & more | Values |
| Height (approx) | in centimetres – 170 cm in feet and inches – 5’ 7” in metres – 1.70 m |
| Weight (approx) | in kilograms – in pounds – |
| Hair colour | Black (turned white in old age) |
| Eye colour | Brown |
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Education Background: Qualifications
| School | Scindia School, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh |
| College/University | St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, Maharashtra |
| Educational Qualification/Degree | Graduate |
Personal life: Ameen Sayani’s Wife, Family, Marriage
| Marital status | Married |
| Spouse (Wife or Husband) | Wife: Rama Muttu (deceased) |
| Children | Son: Rajil Sayani |
Professional Career
| Years Active | 1951 – 2024 |
- Ameen Sayani has a memorable professional career in the Radio jockey field. Since the start of his career in 1951, he has participated in more than 54,000 radio programs and 19,000 spots/jingles in his overall career. Those are some impressive numbers, and they are recorded in the Limca Book of Records.
- He used to start his address with the phrase “Behno aur Bhaiyo” (sisters and brothers) in his soothing voice. As time passed, he and his phrase “Bheno aur Bhaiyo” became popular. The reason was not just his well-liked voice, but it was also because he was breaking the known rules of society, as he preferred to put sisters before brothers in his popular phrase. By doing this, he wanted to send a message of women’s empowerment through his radio program. This full phrase went like this, “Namaste behno aur bhaiyon, main aapka dost Ameen Sayani bol raha hoon”.
- It was Ameen’s elder brother Hamid Sayani who introduced Ameen to All India Radio, Bombay. Due to that development, Ameen was able to participate in AIR’s English programs for the next ten years.
- But very soon he decided to broadcast in Hindi language, even though he was not a very good Hindi speaker. According to one of his interviews, it was Mahatma Gandhi who inspired him to start his program in the Hindi language.
- All India Radio was not popular back then, it was only due to personalities like Ameen that it gained popularity with time. He also took part in many movies over the years. He would play the role of an announcer in these movies. These movies were Teen Devian, Bhoot Bungla, Boxer and Qatl.
- From 1960 to 1962, Ameen Sayani worked in the marketing department of Tata Oil Mills Ltd. He worked there as a Brand Executive for mainly two soaps named Hamam and Jai.
- After the death of his brother Hamid Sayani in 1975, Ameen took over one of his brother’s radio shows by the name BOURNVITA QUIZ CONTEST (English).
- Since Ameen Sayani had already produced many audio features over LPs, CDs and cassettes, he was now working on a project under Saregama India Ltd. This project was named “GEETMALA KI CHHAON MEIN”. 40 volumes of this project were already produced and even released.
- Not just in India, Ameen Sayani’s radio shows were even exported to countries like the USA, Canada, England, UAE, South Africa, Mauritius, New Zealand and Fiji. Comparing shows was also one of the things he used to do for foreign radio stations.
- Even in 2014, Ameen Sayani was working in the radio business.
- In 2016, 83-year-old Ameen Sayani was still active in his announcement work. He even recorded a promotional audio for Akshay Kumar’s upcoming movie of that time. This movie was none other than “Rustom”.
Radio Shows Produced and compared under Ameen Sayani
| Show Title | Duration | Radio Station |
|---|---|---|
| CIBACA (formerly BINACA) GEETMALA | 42 years (since 1952) | Radio Ceylon, Vividh Bharati (AIR) |
| COLGATE CIBACA GEETMALA | 2 years | Vividh Bharati |
| S. KUMARS KA FILMI MUQADDAMA, FILMI MULAQAAT | 7 years | AIR, Vividh Bharati |
| SARIDON KE SAATHI | 4 years | AIR |
| BOURNVITA QUIZ CONTEST (English) | 8 years | – |
| SHALIMAR SUPERLAC JODI | 7 years | – |
| MARATHA DARBAR shows | 14 years | – |
| SANGEET KAY SITARON KI MEHFIL | 4 years (still running) | Multiple radio stations |
Ameen Sayani’s international radio shows
| Show Title | Duration | Radio Station |
|---|---|---|
| MINI INSERTIONS of FILMSTAR INTERVIEWS | 35 installments | Ethnic Network, UK (under BBC) |
| MUSIC FOR THE MILLIONS | 6 episodes | BBC’s World Service Radio |
| VEETEE KA HUNGAMA | 4 ½ years | Sunrise Radio, London |
| GEETMALA KI YAADEN | 4 years | Radio Ummul Quwain, UAE |
| YE BHI CHANGA WO BHI KHOOB | 8 months | Radio Asia, UAE |
| HANGAMAY | 2 ½ years | radio stations in Houston, Los Angeles, Toronto, Washington, San Francisco and Boston |
| SANGEET PAHELI | 1 year | Radio Truro, Swaziland |
Political or Social work
Ameen Sayani is also known for his social work and his efforts to make our society stronger and better. In his Radio announcer days, he was asked to produce a 13-episode radio series titled Swanaash by All India Radio. This series was based on HIV/AIDS cases. During the airing of this series, Sayani conducted interviews with various social workers and doctors in this field.
The goal of this series was to create awareness about the topic and to provide reliable information from field experts. The audio cassettes of this series were acquired by many NGOs for their fieldwork.
Ameen Sayani Death
Ameen Sayani’s son Rajil Sayani confirmed the news that his father has passed away due to a heart attack on 20 February 2024. This news shocked many of his well-wishers and fans.
- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also sent his condolences through a tweet. The PM expressed that Ameen Sayani had a golden voice which was able to reach people across various generations. Mr. Modi also praised Ameen Sayani’s work to revolutionize Indian radio broadcasting.
- Anurag Thakur (Union Minister for I&B and Youth Affairs & Sports) also shared his thoughts and condolences in a post after hearing this sad news.
Lifestyle: Ameen Sayani Net Worth, Status, Money
According to some online sources, Ameen Sayani’s net worth is expected to be greater than 8 Crore rupees. Although his exact net worth has not been revealed yet by any official source.
| Net Worth (greater than) | 8 Crore rupees |
House, Bike, and Car Collection
| House or other properties | A house in Mumbai |
Awards, Nominations, and Honour
| Year | Award Name | Org. |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Padma Shri | Government of India |
| 1993 | Hall of Fame Award | Indian Academy of Advertising Film Art (IAAFA) |
| 1992 | Person of the Year Award | Limca Book of Records |
| 1991 | Gold medal | Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) |
| 2000 | OUTSTANDING RADIO CAMPAIGN OF THE CENTURY (“Binaca/Cibaca GEETMALA”) | Golden Abby by Advertising Club, Bombay |
| 2003 | Kaan Hall of Fame Award | Radio Mirchi (Times Group) |
| 2006 | Living Legend Award | India Radio Forum & Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry |
| 2007 | Hindi Ratna Puraskaar | Hindi Bhavan of New Delhi |
Likes, Preferences, and Favourites
| Food | – |
| Movies | – |
| Favourite Actor | Amitabh Bachchan |
| Favourite Actress | Meena Kumari |
| Subjects | – |
| Book | – |
| Music and Songs | Asha Bhosle, Kishore Kumar |
| Sports | – |
Less-known facts about Ameen Sayani
- Ameen Sayani’s mother was a social activist. Ameen used to help her mother with everything he could. Most of this work was related to her mother’s journal, Rehber. It was a journal for neo-literates, started under the guidance of Mahatma Gandhi. It used to get published once every two weeks in Hindi, Urdu and Gujarati scripts at the same time. From 1940 to 1960, Ameen would try to help her mother in printing, editing, and publishing this journal.
- Mahatma Gandhi was very close to Ameen Sayani’s family.
- Ameen received over 9,000 letters after his first programme of Geetmala on Radio Ceylon. All these letters were just appreciating him and his work over the radio.
- In his struggling days, Amitabh Bachchan himself went to Ameen for a job interview, but Ameen couldn’t meet him due to his tight schedule.
- In 1952 under the order of B V Keskar (Minister for Information and Broadcasting), All India Radio banned all Hindi songs in India. This was the time when Radio Ceylon started to boom in India. Radio Ceylon was broadcast from Colombo back then. Ameen Sayani used to host his show at this same Radio Ceylon.
- Kishore Kumar was a good friend of Ameen Sayani once. But their friendship became bitter when Kishore Kumar turned him away from the main gate. Ameen recalled an incident in his 2018 interview with Filmfare. In this interview, Ameen described that he was stopped by a producer when he was entering the gate to conduct Kishore Kumar’s interview. Ameen truly felt bad because Kishore himself invited him to conduct this interview. After this incident, Ameen stopped asking Kishore Kumar for interviews again and even decided to stop meeting him.
Social media accounts
| Facebook page | Ameen J. Sayani |
| X (formerly Twitter) profile | Ameen Sayani (@AmeenSayani) |
| Instagram page | ameenjsayani |
| n/a |
FAQs
Who hosted Binaca Geetmala?
Ameen Sayani was the one who hosted the iconic radio program “Binaca Geetmala”.
What was the age of Ameen Sayani before he passed away?
Ameen Sayani was 91 years old at the time of his death.
Where is Ameen Sayani now?
Unfortunately, Ameen Sayani passed away on 20 February 2024 due to a heart attack.
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