In the year 1952 the then minister of information and broadcasting (I&B) of newly independent India, B.V. Keskar, determined that All India Radio (AIR) which was the information and entertainment lifeline of the nation would not air film songs because he felt they would worsen the moral fabric of youth and were far too “Westernized”. He believed they would hamper the cultural growth of a young nation on the cusp of a dazzling future. Instead, he proposed, the country could lend its ears to intellectual home-grown classical music.

In an article in The Hindu (19 July 1953), Keskar argued that the country’s appreciation for classical music had “fallen” and was “on the point of extinction” particularly in north India. The onus of making his countrymen intimate with classical music, therefore, was bestowed on AIR. “We must make (ourselves) familiar with our traditional music,” he declared. Keskar was a staunch Brahmin and a classical Indian music purist. He felt that Hindi film songs were straying from their responsibility of instilling national pride in people. The lyrics then were written majorly in Urdu, Keskar felt they were ‘erotic’. Those days there was a steady rise in the use of Western instruments and Western melodies in the songs, which Keskar used to identify as a lower stage of human evolution. In his opinion nothing came near Indian classical music.

Songs like Tadbeer Se Bigdi Hui Taqdeer Bana Le, which S.D. Burman turned into an buoyant, guitar-sporting number for Baazi (1951), and Mud Mud Ke Na Dekh for Shree 420, 1955, which featured an orchestra of Western instruments did not pass Keskar’s test. He wanted songs that were infused with the sound of the flute, tanpura or sitar instead. And so it was chiefly through radio, he thought, that the country’s musical heritage could be nurtured.  Mr Keskar was not wrong in his philosophy. He served the Information and Broadcasting ministry from 1952 to 1962 which the longest in history. He imposed a quota of 10 percent of all program time. In addition, Keskar ensured that if a film song was played, the film’s title would not be announced, since he considered that radio need not do advertising of films. Only the singer’s name would be mentioned. What about the lyricist, the music director?  They dint get their credit. This was the scene then.  Filmfare magazine characterized Keskar as a conniving man whose decision was a calculated blow at the reputation of the Indian film industry, as much as one aimed at ousting film music from the market (Filmfare August 1952 issue).

In response, film producers who owned the rights to the songs decided to overturn the broadcast licences given to AIR. And, as Keskar anticipated, film music completely disappeared from radio within a mere three months. The void was filled by AIR broadcasting classical music. Across the shore, Radio Ceylon rose to the occasion and used the opportunity. It created the legendary musical countdown Binaca Geetmala which was a show entirely dedicated to Indian film songs. Every Wednesday, Indian listeners would tune into Radio Ceylon and listen to their favourite songs with their favourite show host, the iconic and amiable Ameen Sayani, who would engage them with corresponding film ins and outs. Youngsters would gather around radio from 8 to 9 pm for listening to Binaca Geetmala. Ameen Sayani’s mesmerising voice made him literally a God; he had a big fan following like a film hero.  Binaca Geetmala ran from 1952 to 1988.

Ameen Sayani, in an interview with Aswin Punathambekar (professor of communication studies at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor), recounted how his team would record the show on tapes for every single day. And every week’s quota used to fly by Swiss Air, Air Ceylon or Air India to Colombo. Sometimes, his team got into trouble, especially with Geet Mala, because with Geet Mala was not supposed to record too much in advance. The popularity poll had to reflect a current mood of listeners. Binaca Geetmala became an absolute rage, just like how the streets would be empty when B. R. Chopra’s Mahabharat (1988) or Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan (1986) would be on television, the same thing happened to Geet Mala… Wednesdays came to be known as Geet Mala day.

Radio Ceylon is the oldest radio station in Asia. Broadcasting was started on an experimental basis in Ceylon by the colonial Telegraph Department in 1923, just three years after the inauguration of broadcasting in Europe.

This new medium of mass communication not only became increasingly popular in the years that followed, but also quickly evolved into a medium of national character, which led to the “Radio Service” being organised as a separate department of the government of Ceylon (currently Sri Lanka) in 1949. Subsequently, in 1967, the Department of Broadcasting was transformed into its present statutory form of a state corporation by the Ceylon broadcasting corporation Act.

Radio Ceylon had a Hindi service that was launched in the early 1950s. Millions of rupees in form of advertising revenue came from India. The station employed some of the most popular Indian announcers who played a vital role in establishing Radio Ceylon as the ‘King of the airwaves’ in South Asia, among them, the Ganjwar sisters, Vimla and Kamini, Vjay Kishore Dubey, Gopal Sharma, Hasan Razvi, Kumar and Manohar Mahajan, Sunil Dutt (who went on to become a popular film star in Bollywood), Ameen Sayani and his elder brother Hamid Sayani (who were not taken on the rolls of Radio Cylone). Binaca Geetmala was first broadcasted in 1952 as “Lipton Ke Sitaare.”

Its most popular features were film songs. While the golden age of Hindi-language film music was in the 1950s and 1960s, the station popularised movie songs, including the ones form K.L.Saigal Lata Mangeshkar, S. Janaki, Asha Bhosle, Kishore Kumar, Mukesh, Mohammed Rafi, Manna Dey etc. The radio station took advantage of the situation as Bollywood film music was banned by All India Radio and other Indian radio stations at the time. This led to increased listenership for radio programmes such as Binaca Geetmala. The Binaca Hit Parade was presented by Greg Roskowski, it was a countdown of English pop music beamed on the Commercial Service and the All Asia Service. Having heard the programme, the audience flooded the station with letters requesting a countdown of Hindi-language film songs and the idea of Binaca Geetmala was born.

The show was hosted throughout its entire run by Ameen Sayani. It was very popular in India, with estimated listenership ranging from 900,000 to 2,000,000. It greatly increased the popularity of Radio Ceylon, making it the primary source of popular film music on radio for the Indian subcontinent. After 1998, the show aired on Vividh Bharati and was on for half an hour on Monday nights.

Talking about Radio and not talking about Binaca Geetmala a programme that ruled the industry for decades is a subject incomplete. The “golden voice” of Indian radio, Ji haan behnon aur bahiyon, of Ameen Sayani, and he presented the show during its entire run. A programme which won millions and millions of heart, favourite of all generations, and made radio the popular medium to reach masses during its time making listeners glued to their radio’s sets. In the year 2000 the show was awarded the Advertising Club’s Golden Abby Award for being adjudged the most outstanding Radio Campaign of the Century.

Old Hindi Songs make the listeners ecstatic. The songs are so expressive and passionate that they refresh the mood and tired senses. Some of the songs are heart touching, some of them are witty, some are amusing you name the mood and you will find a good old song. What is astonishing about the old songs is the musical variety to relish on and each of old song has its own magical impact on listeners. The time is called golden era where style and subtleness ruled, and when the renowned music directors legends like S.D Burman, Salil Chowdhary, Shankar-Jaikishan, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Madan Mohan, O.P.Nayyar, Chitragupt, R D Burman composed magical numbers. Singersuch as Saigal, Mohammad Rafi, Geeta Dutt, Shamshad Begum, Suraiya, Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Suman Kalyanpur, Manna Dey, Talat Mehmood and many more ruled. The fact is that listening to old Hindi songs in which the lyrics are so wonderful, they are the best medicine for the listeners. I think in true sense it was an era of timeless music. They can take you back in time when romance and emotions were oozed deep into the lyrics of songs, when innocence ruled the vulgarity.

Then, the lyrics were penned with simplicity of words and expression, speaking about the deep spiritual truths about our existence and surroundings. There was pleasure in songs – whether a patriotic song, romantic song or a devotional songs, they all celebrated life. Solos expressed the transience of love and life. Lyricists such as Shailendra, Hasrat Jaipuri, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Neeraj, Anand Bakshi, Sahir Ludhiyanvi, Shakeel Badayuni, Pradeep, Kaifi Azami and Gulzar penned remarkable, soul-stirring poetries some of which were replete with clichés and metaphors contributing to the golden era.

The fact that technology then was not as advanced as today, but still the best numbers were produced then. How is that? The answer lies in the fact that at times the composure used up to 100-piece orchestra, and do you know that till 1952, there was no tape recording and songs were directly recorded on the sound-track of the celluloid film.  A lot of emphasis was obviously laid on the rehearsals because if any mistake were made, both the song and the acting would have to be re-recorded.  This naturally enforced some strict rules of disciplines on the singers, music directors and orchestra to rehearse and to avoid any lacunas before recording. After 1952, the music recording process became easier with the advent of magnetic tape recording, but by this time the lyricists, music directors, singers and musicians had become so familiar with each other that they knew the work habits and professionalism of each other hence they performed as a well-tuned team. Another fact is, though the familiarity was superb among the team members rehearsals were still very important prior to recording.

Recording studios were huge places built to accommodate large numbers of musicians with the singer placed in a separate cabin to minimize any audio overspill. Then each song was recorded live. Each song was recorded in one single go. There was no dubbing. The singer had to work with the orchestra and if anyone made a mistake, the recording would start all over again. That’s how each song took long hours of recording. Also, most of the music directors, directors and producers then gave a lot importance to lyrics and not just the composition of the song. In contrast what we see today is that lyrics are ‘fit’ into the music.

In the olden days, for almost everybody, listening to the radio was a one of the main pastime. There were few radio stations to choose from; Radio Ceylon, Vividh Bharti and another station called All India Radio, Urdu Service and local stations. People would switch on their radios or transistors from morning and continue listening to radio programs all day long. ‘Binaca Geetmala’ was the trendiest program.  There is no Radio Jockey as good as Ameen Sayani and his unique attribute ‘Behano aur Bhaiyo’. Those days when the only medium of entertainment was the radio which brought a judicious mix of news, music, plays (both one act and serials), discussions, and quizzes, sound track of films, cricket commentaries, and some devotional programs.

I present here below some rare gems with terrific lyrics, soothing music and superb singing. On screen these songs added great value to the respective movies of the golden era:

Yeh nayi nayi preet hai:

Film Pocket-maar 1956: Lyricist: Rajendar Krishan: Singers: Lata Mangeshkar, Talat Mehmood: Music Director: Madan Mohan

Tum jo hue mere humsafar:

Film 12’O clock 1958: Lyricists: Majrooh Sultanpuri: Singers: Geeta Dutt, Mohammed Rafi: Music Director: O.P.Nayyar

Koi sone ke dilwala, koi chandi ke dilwala:

Film Maya 1961: Lyricist: Majrooh Sultanpuri: Singer: Mohammad Rafi: Music Director: Saleel Chowdhury

Muzko apane gale laga lo:

Film Humarahi 1963: Lyricist: Hasrat Jaipuri: Singers: Shashad Bugum, Mohammed Rafi: Music Director: Shankar-Jaikishan

Rut Jawan Jawan, raat meherban:

Film: Akahari Khat 1966: Lyricist: Kaifi Azami: Singer: Bhupinder Singh: Music Director: Khayyam

Mera man tera pyasa:

Film: Gambler 1971: Lyricist: Neeraj:  Singer: Mohammed Rafi: Music Director: S.D.Burman

Muze ja na kaho meri jan:

Film: Anubhav 1971: Lyricist: Gulzar: Singer: Geeta Dutt: Music Director: Kanu Roy

Thoda ruk jayegi to tera kya jayega:

Film: Patanga 1971: Lyricist: Neeraj: Singer: Mohammed Rafi: Music Director: Shankar-Jaikishan

Tu jahan mile muze:

Film: Doosari Sita 1974: Lyricist: Gulzar: Singer: Asha Bhosale: Music Director: R.D.Burman

Kai baar yuhi dekha hai:

Film: Rajanigandha 1974: Lyricist: Yogesh: Singer: Mukesh: Music Director: Salil Chowdhury