Geet gaata chal

Beheno aur bhaiyo this is a fortnight so worth the song and dance about It marks the 70th year of a showofshows appearing on the airwaves which wiped Indians cleanly off the streets Into their homes they disappeared huddling round the radio for the ultimate programme of popularitybased Hindi film songs Hosted of course by the genial Ameen Sayani who ruled the broadcast universe with uncommon passion and perception The orange flicker from my parentsrsquo Bush set blazed bright at 8 pm midweek warmed by the pitchperfect inflection ldquoMain aapka dost Ameen Sayani bol raha hoon aur aap sun rahe hain Binaca GeetmalardquoTwenty years before Doordarshanrsquos screening of the Sunday evening movie brought the country to a complete standstill Wednesdays 89 pm became Geetmala Day celebrating one of the longest running programmes in broadcast historyThe sweeping cultural phenomenon was introduced on December 3 1952 by Radio Ceylon Asiarsquos oldest station The British left Ceylon shortwave transmitters belonging to Louis Mountbattenrsquos South East Asia Command Colombo used them for commercial radio offerings in Sinhalese English Tamil and HindiWith singer Manna Dey and music director RaviWowing an estimated weekly listenership of 21 crores by the end of the 1970s Sayani emerged the most idolised compere any channel could boast He interviewed music personalities in other shows Saridon ke Saathi in 1970 Vividh Bharatirsquos first sponsored programme was produced and presented by him on All India Radio AIRGeetmala got going in 1952 as Binaca Hit Parade on Radio Ceylon hosted by Ameenrsquos brother Hamid Sayani and HappyGoLucky Greg Greg Rostowski for the Commercial Service of Radio Ceylon It shot to prominence as AIR slid on account of IampB Minister BV Keskarrsquos 1952 ban on film songs Keskar dourly deemed that tunes like Tadbeer se bigdi hui taqdeer bana le infusing SD Burmanrsquos buoyant guitar riffs for Baazi in 1951 were overorchestrated with Western instruments Radio Advertising Services was opportunely established with Hamid heading its production wingPreparing for the Geetmala silver jubilee stage show in December 1978In his Churchgate home over chai and chivda Ameen Sayani explains ldquoAudiences flooded the station with requests for a similar Hindi film songs countdown The client Ciba Geigy landed at the Radio Advertising Services office where I worked looking for someone to write the script narrate it announce selected songs go through listenersrsquo lettersmdashfor only Rs 25 per programme Raising my hand I said lsquoIrsquoll do itrsquordquoldquoAfter the inaugural broadcast I prayed to God Gandhiji and my mother for 200300 letters from listeners We got 7000 St Xavierrsquos College friends helped sort them Doubling each week within the year mail spiralled to 65000 a weekrdquoWith his ardent fan Srinivas Agarwal in Khandwa Madhya Pradesh in 1993 Agarwal wrote him a birthday tribute every yearListeners arranged their individually preferred sequence of seven songs played in random order A prize amount of R100 was split among seven of them When the award system discontinued after a year the show stayed a hit paradeSmall subterfuges abounded Multiple entries were supposedly dispatched from different addresses on the envelope A telltale post office chhappa revealed the same placemdashKalbadevi for instanceThe obsession from India knit millions internationally At its peak Geetmala attracted fans and followers in Ceylon Pakistan Bangladesh Nepal Afghanistan UAE Oman the West Indies Africa and then America ldquoSomebody heard it in Germany so Europe seemed covered as well Nothing must have blocked the shortwave reach The signal probably went into China which was countering Ceylon getting powerfulrdquoRapturous responses poured in filling stacks of sacks Sayani generally refrained from accepting gifts ldquoWhat can you do sometimes itrsquos just loverdquo his son Rajil says When a woman sent a shawl as a token of appreciation he politely conveyedmdashldquoThank you for the present but this would upset my wiferdquo The lady wrote back ldquoAmeen bete Irsquom of age enough to be your mother Please accept the giftrdquoOlder women to schoolboys were in starryeyed thrall Byculla resident Rustom Jasoomoney remembers ldquoIn 195556 pretransistor days at Scout camp in Matheran forest we abandoned campfire activities on Wednesdays Trekking two miles by lantern light with staffs and in uniform to Sayaji Park in the town centre where Geetmala was on a public address system We crossed fingers that failing electricity wouldnrsquot cut short the showrdquoAnother excited kid rushed to the radio minutes ahead little dreaming he would grow up to market the same show Former CibaGeigy advertising manager Homi Randeria says ldquoSuvi Godambe sifted through the post that record dealers sent and the tabulation went to Ameen His charm alone made Geetmala shine even with parallel film music programmes in the early 1980s We polled listeners asking if the show should continue amid competitors The reaction was fantastic I was shocked being forced to wait five days before getting into my cabin It was piled that high with mail begging us to never stop Till today I cherish Ameenrsquos signed cassettes and canrsquot nap in the afternoon without hearing those retro recordings on my Carvaan radiordquoManohar Mahajan Radio Ceylonrsquos iconic announcer acknowledges ldquoHe is my guru my bhagwan my everything Unbelievable how as a child I was mesmerised by Geetmala tracks from a hotel near my home in Jabalpur and that legendary voice soon advised lsquoBombay aa jaorsquo To be mentored by the finest industry veteran is a blessingrdquo Sayani reminisces ldquoThe beautiful quality of melodies resulted in Geetmala songs becoming an absolute craze As younger talents LaxmikantPyarelal KalyanjiAnandji ShankarJaikishan and RD Burman gained fame senior music directors complained the ratings procedure was faultyrdquo The basis of the listing initially was sales figures obtained from records stores and later numerous listenersrsquo clubs To dissolve further rancour rather than be ranked songs simply played for a brief yearHere are Sayanirsquos own favourites not necessarily Geetmala inclusionsMan re tu kaahe na dheer dhare ChitralekhaPiya tose naina laage re GuideBhooli hui yaadon SanjogRaaton ko chori chori Mohabbat Zindagi HaiPoochho na kaise maine rain bitai Meri Soorat Teri AankhenTere bachpan ko jawaani ki dua deti hoon Mujhe Jeene DoJaane jaan dhoondta phir raha Jawani DiwaniMain paagal mera manvaa paagal AashiyanaRasik balmaa dil kyon lagaaya Chori ChoriJeevan dor tumhi sang baandhi Sati SavitriMass adulation meant restaurants and paan stalls packed with fevered patrons at that magic hour ldquoWithout a radio in their struggler years Laxmikant Pyarelal hung around a cafemdashthey couldnrsquot afford enteringmdashpeeping in from its window to hear chartbusters blaring outrdquo Sayani recollects ldquoMy relationship with playback singers was excellent especially Lata Asha Mohammed Rafi Mahendra Kapoor and above all Kishore Kumar Among music directors I bonded with Naushad C Ramchandra Madan Mohan SD Burman RD Burman and Roshan who was a dear friend I also interviewed these wonderful sangeetkars The lyricists closest to me were Sahir Ludhianvi and Shakeel BadayunirdquoRajil adds ldquoShakeel Badayuni wrote the sehra verse that was read out when Dad got married to Rama Mattu a veritable music encyclopaedia relied upon for information related to any Hindi film song under the sunrdquoGeetmala moved from Radio Ceylon to Vividh Bharati radio to stage to LPs and cassettes to TV CDs live streaming and finally to the film music player Carvaan containing Saregamarsquos hit Geetmala Ki Chhaon Mein series paying tribute to less heard yet deserving songs With Chhoo lene do naazuk hotho ko in the film Kaajal the Sartaj Song crowned song strategy gracefully retired a number already aired 25 times The marks scored decided whether it was to be included and ranked in the annual programmeAn admirer of Casey Kasem producerpresenter of the American Top 40 Sayani reveals that Kasemrsquos signature linemdashldquoKeep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the starsrdquomdashparticularly appeals to himIn 2000 the Advertising Club honoured Binaca Geetmala with the Golden Abby for Outstanding Radio Campaign of the 20th Century ldquoEntrenched in the hearts and minds of the nation I still receive about 20 letters a month describing how Geetmala has influenced peoplersquos livesrdquo says Sayani ldquoThe interaction between me and my listeners has always been very personalised I was their Ameen Bhai they my sweet beheno aur bhaiyordquoGeetmala milestonesDecember 3 1952 First Binaca Geetmala broadcast as a halfhour showDecember 3 1953 First annual programme of 12 top songsJanuary 5 1954 Becomes a onehourlong hit parade with 16 songsFrom 1957 Annual programmes start on the last two Wednesdays of every yearMarch 23 1966 Introduction of the Sartaj Song conceptJanuary 8 15 amp 22 1978 Silver jubilee broadcast in three parts from 11 AM12 noonAugust 12 1981 Entry of the first nonfilmi song Disco deewaane ahaMay 21 1986 Name change from Binaca Geetmala to Cibaca GeetmalaOctober 27 1988 Slot change from Wednesday 89 PM to Thursday 910 PMApril 6 1989 Number of songs becomes 14 from 16November 6 1989 Starts on 24 Vividh Bharati stations broadcast day change again to Monday 9 PMMarch 21 1994 Last regular programme of Cibaca Geetmala broadcast On March 28 and April 4 Sayani features two specials with previous yearsrsquo top songsApril 4 1994 Last broadcast of Cibaca GeetmalaFebruary 18 2001 First broadcast of ColgateCibaca GeetmalaAugust 24 2003 Last broadcast of ColgateCibaca GeetmalaAuthorpublisher Meher Marfatia writes fortnightly on everything that makes her love Mumbai and adore Bombay You can reach her at mehermarfatiamiddaycomwwwmeher marfatiacom