How a toothpaste & film songs shaped post-Independence India

It all began in the winter of 1952. Honchos of a top ad company were planning on Radio Ceylon, a show of Hindi film songs for its client, a chemical and pharmaceutical conglomerate widely known in India for, among other products, a humble toothpaste!

A show of English songs, presented by Hamid Sayani, the legendary broadcaster, was doing exceedingly well on Radio Ceylon, and the ad company was eager to tap the Hindi market given the popularity of Hindi film songs.

"However, not a single writer or compere was willing to even consider the proposal given the remuneration - a paltry Rs. 25 per week for researching, scripting and presenting the hit parade. Not a princely sum. However, Hamidbhai roped me in, insisting that I should do the show and thus began the long, rewarding journey-Binaca Geet Mala'," said radio rajah Ameen Sayani on Friday. In 1986, 'Binaca Geet Mala' was re-named 'Cibaca Geet Mala'.

In view of the Sayani Sr.'s age-he will turn 90 this month-and delicate health, son Rajil helped father fill in the gaps in the Binaca Geet Mala story which is entwined with the post-Independent India's cultural narrative.

Actually, Sayani was a tad nervous about the project. He belonged to a family which was immersed in literature, Gandhian values and Western classical music, while the 'Geet Mala' was meant to please the lowest common denominator-the hoi polloi.

Fresh out of college (a pucca Xavierite), Sayani, all of 20, put his head and heart into the hit parade which effortlessly blurred the caste-community-creed distinctions.

"It's time we recognised the fact that like the BRCC and the IITs, the Binaca Geet Mala too symbolises the Nehruvian India," said noted visualiser Vinayak Ponkshe.

Sayani's home-spun Hindustani and easy, microphone-friendly speaking style (he minted new words such as 'sartaaj' - a 'crown' for the top number - and 'paaydaan', a ladder step which a song has to ascend to reach the top) went down well with listeners who were hungry for film ditties as All India Radio had, back in the 1950s, clamped a ban on cinema music which may "corrupt" the youth!

The first show, a bouquet of seven songs relayed on December 3, 1952, was an instant success. Within a year, 65,000 letters began to pour into Sayani's Colaba office every week. Later, the number of songs went up from seven to 16.

A spool would be flown to Colombo every Saturday for the show scheduled for the following Wednesday. 'Pom pom baja bole', a popular Hindi film ditty from Aasmaan, set to tune by O. P. Nayyar (said to be based loosely on 'Jingle bell, jingle bell'), was the Geet Mala's signature tune.

Sayani would put in 12 hours' work every day, assisted by wife Rama, and a well-trained staff. "I could never get to meet Papa, except on Sundays. He was busy in his studio when the Geet Mala would go on air on Wednesdays," said Rajil. In 1989 Sayani shifted the show to Vividh Bharati, All India Radio's window to popular music.

Sayani kept experimenting with the format to keep it going from strength to strength. Initially, the countdown list was finalised on sale of records as reported by music shops.

Listener clubs sprouted in every town. "We would lay a bet on on the No. 1 song. However, no one complained if it slipped to the third position as every song was sweet and melluflous," said Piyush Mehta, a die-hard Geet Mala loyalist from Surat. "Entire India-in fact, the sub-continent would come to a standstill every Wednesday at 8 pm," added Ponkshe.

To ensure transparency in the selection of songs, weekly sales reports were sought from key record dealers across the country. For the first two decades Naushad Ali, C Ramchandra, Hemant Kumar, Roshan and Madan Mohan figured prominently in the weekly hit parade.

The 1960s belonged to Shankar-Jaikishan, O P Nayyar and S D Burman, with Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Kalyanji-Anandji and R D Burman all set to take over from them.

"Both I and Laxmibhai were ardent admirers of Binaca Geet Mala. While struggling as junior musicians in Mumbai's recording studios, we dreamed of a day when our songs would be the Geet Mala chart-busters," said Pyarelal of the famous Laxmikant-Pyarelal duo.

However, the Geet Mala began to lose its sheen in the 1970s because of the advent private TV channels and steady decline in the quality of film songs, said experts. However, the key factor was the poor reception of Radio Ceylon, which affected the fragile transmission network.

Sayani keeps himself busy: reading and writing in his cosy, New Marine Lines apartment. The grand old man of radio is penning his memoirs-with a song on his lips.