Manohar Mahajan has been a popular announcer of the Hindi Service of Radio Ceylon

Radio Ceylon

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

, the oldest radio station in South Asia. Millions of listeners in India would turn on their radio sets to hear Mahajan's radio programs on Radio Ceylon.

History

Manohar Mahajan helped to establish Radio Ceylon as the leader of the airwaves in South Asia.
He brought numerous, innovative and yet very popular concepts to Radio Programming, while working as the Chief Announcer for Radio Ceylon, which unarguably was the harbinger of the very concept of Radio in India.
Radio Ceylon is now known as the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. The station celebrated eighty years in broadcasting in December 2005.

He returned to India in 1975, and has been a freelance broadcaster since, for radio and television.

He is the ‘+A’ Grade Voice and Writer on the “Films Division” (Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, India) Panel of Voices and Writers since the last 25 years and spoken and written more than 500 Documentaries and News Reels.

He brought the concept of Compering Fashion Shows and Beauty Contests / Trade Shows (in Hindi) in India.

He has voiced more than 10000 Radio Programs, 7000 Radio Spots, Audio-visuals, Van Publicities, Jingles and V.O.s for Ad Films.

He has compered Stage Shows in Hindi and interviewed some of the top personalities of all times such as Pandit Ravi Shankar, Dilip Kumar, George Harrison, Neil Armstrong, Indira Gandhi, Amitabh Bachchan, Sunil Gavaskar, Mohd. Rafi, Bhimsen Joshi, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, Kishore Kumar, Ustad Allarakha Khan, Mukesh, Mannadey, Talat Mehmood, Ustad Allauddin Khan, Dr. Jayant Narlikar, Mehndi Hassan, Noor Jehan, Sitaradevi and many more.

He presented Bombay Doordarshan’s most popular request program “Phir Wohi” for 3 years.
He presented Bombay Doordarshan’s popular children’s’ program “Khel Khilone” for 5 years.

He has written and presented “Music Millennium” for Zee Music, a T.V. Program which depicted the History of Indian Film Music.

He has dubbed more than 300 Episodes for the “Discovery Channel” and over 150 episodes for the “National Geographic Channel” in Hindi.

He has done Film Publicity for more than 600 Feature Films on radio, some of which are Sholay, Roti Kapda aur Makaan, Kasauti, Qurbani, Main Inteqaam Loonga, Pratigya, Dostana, Alibaba Chaalis Chor, etc.

He has been the President of Association of Voice Artistes (AVA) affiliated to Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) for 2 consecutive terms.

He recently compered 'Malhar Festival' (7 day program) & 'Jugalbandi' (4 day program) organized by Indo Occidental Symbiosis at Kalamandir & Science City Auditorium, Kolkatta. Imminent music personalities like Pandit Jasraj

Pandit Jasraj

Pandit Jasraj is an Indian classical vocalist. He is the foremost exponent of the Mewati Gharana of Hindustani classical music.-Early life:Jasraj was born in Hisar, Haryana in an orthodox brahmin family to Pandit Motiramji, a classical exponent. His family is well known for singing in the Mewati...

, Kishori Amonkar

Kishori Amonkar

Kishori AmonkarN- is an Indian singer who performs in the classical genre khyal and the light classical genres thumri and bhajan. Amonkar trained under her mother, classical singer Mogubai Kurdikar of the Jaipur gharana , but experimented with a variety of vocal styles in her career...

, Ustad Shahid Pervez, Parveen Sultana

Parveen Sultana

Begum Parveen Sultana is an Assamese Hindustani classical singer of the Patiala Gharana. She is among the foremost classical vocalists in India and is known as Queen of Classical Vocal.She was conferred the Padmashri in 1976....

, Amjad Ali Khan

Amjad Ali Khan

Amjad Ali Khan is an Indian classical musician who plays the sarod. Khan was born into a musical family and has performed internationally since the 1960s...

, Pandit Shankar Ghosh, Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, Pandit Anindo Chatterjee, Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar

Ulhas Kashalkar

Pandit Ulhas N Kashalkar is a noted Hindustani classical vocalist. He has received training in the Gwalior, Jaipur and Agra gharanas, and is considered a legitimate representative of all three schools.-Early life:...

, Pandit Kumar Bose, Pandit Kartick Kumar, Ustad Rashid Khan, Subhankar Banerjee, Pandit Tejendra Narayan Majumdar, Pandit Ramesh Mishra, Rakesh Chaurasia, Purbayan Chatterjee, Roshan Ali, Nayan & Ishan Ghosh, Pandit Bhawani Shankar, performed at these classical music shows.

Radio programs

He has conceived, written and presented the following radio programs:

• “Santogen Ki Mehfil” which is the second longest-running program on air in the History of Indian Radio. This Program ran for 19 years non-stop. The longest-running Radio program ever being “Binaca Geet Mala”.
• “Dharkan” for Exide Batteries in Hindi (Drama Format) which won the Ad Club’s Award in the Radio Category for the Best Sponsored Program.
• “Duncan’s Star Time” for Duncan’s Tea in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu (Film Song Based Program).
• “Bitco Rang Tarang” for Bitco Tooth Powder in Hindi (Film Soundtrack Program).
• “B.J. Ke Sangh, Sitaron Ke Rang” for Babubhai Jagjivandas in Hindi (Featuring Bollywood Film Stars).
• “Maratha Darbar Ki Bahar, Jawan Geeton Ke Saath” for Mysore Agarbatti Works, Jalgaon in Hindi.
• “Eveready Ke Hum Safar” for Eveready Batteries in Hindi (Drama Format) which won the RAPA Award.
• “Radio Patrika” for Maharashtra Rajya Lottery Board in Hindi (Radio Magazine).
• “Ek dhage Ke Moti” for Maharashtra Small-scale Industries in Hindi (Drama Format).
• “Tejaswi Kahaniyan” for Cycle Brand Agarbatti in Hindi (Dramatization of True Stories).
• “Sargam” for Y.G. Agarbatti Works, Mysore in Hindi (Year-wise History of Film Music).
• “McDowells Hit Parade” for McDowells in Hindi (Chartbuster Program).
• “Asoka Ki Adalat” for Asoka Biscuits, Hyderabad in Hindi (Court Drama Format).
• “Kissa Tota-Maina” for Life Insurance Corporation of India (L.I.C.) in Hindi (Folk Based Musical Program).

Commercials

He has conceptualized, written and produced radio commercials for the following:

• “Reliance Triple Option Debentures” in English, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Telugu, Malayalam, Oriya, Assamese.
• “Eveready Batteries” in English, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Telugu, Malayalam, Oriya, Assamese.
• “H.M.T. Watches” & “H.M.T. Tractors” in Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Punjabi, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati, Telugu.
• “Life Insurance Corporation of India (L.I.C.)” in Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Punjabi, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati, Telugu.
• “General Insurance Corporation of India (G.I.C.)” in Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Punjabi, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati, Telugu.

Awards

• National Award (1999): Best Documentary Writer (Documentaries were “Thirst”, “Cancer”)
• International American Clio Award (1979): Main Role Voice in a Radio Sponsored Program.
• RAPA Award:
  • BSA Deluxe Cycles – Radio Commercial
  • Maya Magazine - Radio Commercial
  • Eveready Battery – Radio Commercial
• Ad Club of India:
  • H.M.T. Tractors – Radio Commercial
  • L.I.C. – Radio Commercial
  • Dharkan – Radio Sponsored Program
• Rajasthan Shrimani Award: Awarded on Rajasthan Day (30 March) for making Hindi language popular through Radio, Television and Stage.

External links

• Personal website