Ameen Sayani, the voice of radio’s golden era, passes away at age 91

Mumbai: Ameen Sayani, the iconic radio personality, passed away at the age of 91 due to cardiac failure. He suffered a heart attack on Tuesday evening after which he rushed to HN Reliance Hospital in Mumbai.

He reportedly suffered a heart attack on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. The doctors at the hospital tried to treat him but he was declared dead after the revival attempts didn’t yield a positive result. Ameen had been suffering from high blood pressure and other age-related ailments for some time. He also had back issues owing to which he used a walker.

He achieved huge popularity through his radio program ‘Geetmala’ which has gone down as a milestone in India’s radio landscape. His captivating voice and engaging style spelled a cast at the listeners cultivating fans across the country, and popularised the medium of radio which got a further boost in early 2000s as the dotcom bubble burst. His signature way of addressing listeners as “Behno aur Bhaiyo” (sisters and brothers) became instantly recognisable and widely imitated.

He produced a record number of 54,000 radio programmes and lent his voice to over 19,000 advertisements and jingles.

His voice has also been imitated in the song ‘Tamma Tamma Again’ from the Alia Bhatt and Varun Dhawan-starrer ‘Badrinath Ki Dulhania’.

IANS