PROFILE - Ajit Sheth  

Ajit was born in Bombay and graduated from Sydenham College and Sidharth College in B’Com and BA respectively. He was an avid admirer of Rabindra Sangeet and was absolutely inspired by Shri. Rabindranath Tagore, right from his childhood days. Although Ajit came from a business family, his artistic bent inspired him to study and explore many styles of music. He was an avid reader and was totally enamored by literature and music of various languages, especially Bengali and Gujarati. Ajit dreamed Of studying in the great ‘Shantiniketan’. However his dream remained unfulfilled, as at a tender age of 15 he lost his father and had to shoulder business and family responsibilities. However the magic of Rabindranath and Shri.Pankaj Mullick grew on this young mind. He started learning painting, design and the Bengali language 

Ajit’s musical journey continued developing as he started singing and composing at a very young age. Soon he became an approved artiste for AIR and started singing regularly also in live programes.  It is during one such program that he sang the duet ‘Ghanshyam Gagan’ with a beautiful young Brahmin girl that he fell in love and found his soul mate... 

Early Days
Ajit and Nirupama got married in the year 1957, with their marriage, a new musical journey started for both. It is during these years that Shri.Kanhaiyalal Munshi made this young couple secretaries of the Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan cultural wing in Mumbai, which they headed for more then a decade. The couple started very many musical activities at Bhavans (as it was fondly called then), out of which the most popular was “Aa Maas Na Geeto”. It was an ensemble of musicians and artists invited from all over India to perform on one platform. The Sheth’s had the vision, which was to preserve the dwindling Gujarati Sugam Sangeet and literature; they strongly believed that a proper sharing of ideas, respecting each other, encouraging new talents will definitely help create interest and awareness in this genre of music. They persued this objective with infectious zeal till the very end. Apart from Mumbai, they traveled extensively to different parts of Gujarat (and Saurashtra) and held many music shows, organized conferences and discussion groups. Considering this was done over 40 years back, it was a pioneering effort.

It is during this time that they took the very tough decision of not making a business out of music and not to sell their art. This decision was all the more difficult for young Nirupama who had always been a very gifted singer.

In 1958, the Sheth’s came in contact with their idol Shri Pankaj Mullick, who over the years became their mentor. It is from him that they learnt in depth Tagore music. Pankajda became a great influence in their lives. They presented him with élan in tasteful programmes for more then 50 shows across the country and abroad. It was ‘Dada’, who inspired the Sheth’s to engage all their energy in the task of presenting the songs of well known poets of Gujarai literature through recorded audio cassettes, TV, radio and stage programmes and this became a turning point in their career.

The Sheths were also fortunate in learning Devotional music and Meera bhajans at the feet of celebrated Shri. Dilipkumar Roy, the saint-poet of devotional songs and the deciple of Shri Aurbindo. 

The Sheths are also proud to have further the cause of ‘Choral Music’ under the baton of Shri. Salil Choudhry. They continued these experiments with the choir singing for a long time. 

Since 1967, the Sheths started a “movement” to present Gujarati literature and language to generate the love that was lacking in people for their language, to present the life and works of famous Gujarati poets on stage. The first being late. “Shri. Zaverchand Meghani- Manimahotsav” which was organized with the help of his son Shri. Mahendra Meghani. Many; such programs on leading poets followed.  

The Pioneering Days
Along with these cultural activities Ajit established and headed a successful Advertising Agency, ‘Adroit Advtg.& Mktg Pvt. Ltd..’Here also Ajit’s creative genius surfaced in all his work. His innovative spirit and underlying passion for preservation and propagation of Indian culture could be witnessed even in the various activities of Adroit.  

They devised and executed the most popular radio show on AIR (then Vividh Bharti), called ‘Kohinoor Geet Gunjar’ in 1970, which ran for almost 15 years. This was a research based Film Music programe which was a combination of music appreciation, social commentary and aesthetically pleasing music. 

They also produced first ever Indian MTV (Music Television) serial “Amrita” on Doordarshan, the National network. The pioneering programme featured the works of ‘chayavadi’ Hindi poets like Mahadevi Verma, Nirala, Maithalisharan Gupta, Sumitranandan Pant, Harivanshrai Bacchan, Majaz, Firaq Grakhpuri, Janisar Akhtar, Jaishankar Prasad, Makhanlal Chaturvedi, Jigar Muradabadi and Narendra Sharma in 1987, which Mrs. Jaya Bacchan compered. 

Ajit also brought his advertising professional skills to his cultural activities. On realizing that in order to get the attention and interest of the younger generation, literature had to be packaged well and for that he took the help of the then ‘new age technology’ of audio visual. He produced several audio-visual shows on various literary geniuses and visualized his songs via this captivating medium. Once again a pioneering effort, in presenting literature and music in an innovative way to the country. 

The Sheths were also invited by UNESCO to participate in the international festival of music and dance at Colombo. They also toured world over with their various programs to propagate their cause for their mother language performing more then 500 shows all over the world. Besides interest in music and performing arts, the Sheths have immense interest in literature. They both have authored several books and research based papers. 

They were approached in October, 1986 by the Tagoreans of London along with the Common Wealth Institute with a request to participate in the month long “Rabindranath Tagore Festival-125th birth anniversary of the universal men”. The Sheths presented a specially prepared document “Tagore and Indian Film Music”. This really had a terrific impact on all the delegates present from all over the world.