Amin Sayani passed away recently at the age of 91 Photo courtesy: PTI

Amin Sayani’s death at the age of 91 on February 20 led to a flood of remembrances on social media, along with easily digestible small packages of compilations of songs from the Binaka Geetmala. As with all social media, there is a grain of truth in the rumors and it is fitting that the tribute to Sayani should be in the form of a musical countdown of popular Hindi film music.

Despite doing many other things including acting in films, the famous radio broadcaster Bhoot Bungla And teen davian (as an announcer), is practically synonymous with ‘Binaka Geetmala’. Coincidentally, he’s a marketing wizard who hit the jackpot on the countdown show by bundling toothpaste.

Receiving Padma Shri from former President of India Pratibha Devisingh Patil in 2009. , Photo Courtesy: Murthy RV

Everyone has their own special Geetmala (rosary of songs) memory, whether it’s keeping a record of the songs in the back pages of an exercise book each week, or walking home through a dimly lit village street. It would take three songs to cover the 15 minute distance and listening to songs on the radio from shops on either side of the lane provides the primary sense of surround sound!

Thursday (the playlist aired on Wednesdays at 8pm) was the time to compare notes, where everyone bought their list and either jumped with joy or were crushed with disappointment, depending on whether the favorite took the reigns. continued to do so or some usurer brought it down.

Amin Sayani at Red FM 93.5 studio in Mumbai in 2003 Photo Credit: Shashi Ashiwal

The countdown show aired on Radio Ceylon between 1952 and 1988, thanks to the British and World War II for its existence, and on Vividh Bharati until 1994. When the Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, BV Keskar, banned Hindi film music from All India Radio on the grounds of obscenity and westernisation, Radio Ceylon seized the opportunity to fill the gap and made huge profits. The ban highlighted the debate of good versus popular as well as the granny state tendencies of the Indian government.

Lists are irresistible – it helps us consume information easily, and the fact that we do that gives our brain the right signals to get our dopamine fix. ‘Binaka Geetmala’ did not start as a countdown show. In the beginning, according to Wikipedia, it was just seven popular Hindi songs in no particular order. Later it was changed to Countdown Show (the first countdown show of Hindi film songs).

The ranking of film songs on Binaka Geetmala had a lot of followers. , Photo Courtesy: The Hindu Archives

In an interview Sayani said that popularity was determined by the number of records sold. Listeners’ clubs were set up to submit the top ten songs of the week. As the show became increasingly popular, it began to be seen as a measure of success. This proved problematic for some musicians, Sayani said, as they felt their careers were being affected by the ratings. After the show ran for a year without ratings, an ombudsman was appointed to ensure that there was no bias.

There was also an annual edition presenting the most popular songs of the year, based on the performances of the songs on the show throughout the year. A look at each year’s winners is like a rapid journey into the history of popular Indian cinema and considering popular culture is a mirror of society, a ready estimate of the seismic shifts in the Indian psyche.

With music composer Pyarelal Sharma.

If the inaugural winner in 1953 was ‘Yeh Zindagi Ussi Ki Hai’ from the historical, Anarkali1955 saw, ‘Mera Joota Hai Japani’ from Raj Kapoor’s shree 420 Takes the crown. The song that filled everyone’s ‘Hindustani’ hearts with joy was a sweet note of national pride.

Next year came the turn of that love letter of Mumbai, Raj Khosla’s ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil Jeena Yahan’ CID, in which Dev Anand plays the role of a dashing inspector. Although the song that gave Shammi Kapoor the nickname ‘Yahoo’ (long before the search engine was created but after Gulliver’s Travels) did not reach the top, ‘Ehsaan Tera Hoga Mujh Par’ Junglee was the top song of 1962.

Ten years later, we were a disillusioned generation looking for psychoactive substances. It’s a time of flower power, beautiful Zeenat Aman and ‘Dum Maaro Dum’ Hare Ram Hare Krishna, A year later, in 1973, the Angry Young Man burst into our consciousness Zanjeer and ‘Yaari hai imaan mera yaar meri zindagi’ was the hit of the year. “Dafli Wale Dafli Baja’ in 1980 from for the guard Sridevi-Jaya Prada’s move forward was hinted during ‘Papa Kehte Hain’ in 1988. From Qayamat to Qayamat Tak Announced the arrival of Aamir Khan. The other Khan, Salman Khan starred in ‘Didi Tera Dewar’, the last annual hit of Binaka Geetmala. Who are you? In 1994.

Through this journey of pop culture, thumkas and thumris, we were guided by this happy voice that would put us in a happy state of mind. Thanks for all the music, Ameen Sayani sir.