Ameen Sayani, the radio presenter of the popular show Geetmala, died on Tuesday, February 20, of a heart failure. He was 91. His son, Rajil Sayani, confirmed the demise of the iconic figure last night at a hospital.

Ameen Sayani passes away 

Ameen's son Rajil said that his father was taken to the HN Reliance Hospital in Mumbai but couldn't be saved. The funeral will be held on Thursday. The doctors at the hospital tried to treat him but he was declared dead after the revival attempts did not 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.

More about Ameen Sayani

Ameen Sayani was born in Mumbai on December 21, 1932. He rose to fame throughout the years, thanks to his captivating style and melodic voice. He started out as an English-language broadcaster but switched to Hindi after India gained independence. Sayani's radio show Geetmala, which first aired in December 1952, helped popularize radio listening in India and brought him great fame.

Sayani's Geetmala demonstrated his profound comprehension of the changing music scene in addition to being a musical extravaganza. The popularity of the program cemented his reputation as a radio maestro. It was in operation from 1952 until 1994, and then again in 2000–2001 and 2001–2003. Although the show's name changed a little, its concept stayed the same.

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. 

His catchphrase, "Behno aur Bhaiyo" (sisters and brothers), made him instantly recognizable and became a popular parody. He also experimented with acting, making brief appearances in several movies, most of them as announcers.

With inputs from IANS