A man of many journeys

For Navroze Contractor, photography remained a pure form of art. The most important thing, he said, was to learn by observing. Giridhar Khashnis pays tribute

It was a Black Sunday not only for artists in Bengaluru but for many across the country on June 18, 2023. Navroze Contractor, known internationally for his many passions including still photography, cinematography, and motorcycling, died, ironically, in a motorcycle accident near Hosur. He was 80 years old. The news was received with shock and grief by the renowned cameraman’s innumerable friends and acquaintances from the world of art, literature, and cinema. Many motorcycling groups too grieved the loss of their fellow traveller, well-wisher, guide, and mentor. 

Tributes poured in from far and wide. Alluding to the many interests and achievements of the “quintessential artist of the sixties and seventies”, novelist and cultural critic Shanta Gokhale wrote: “Navroze Contractor was, before anything else, a warm, unassuming human being who hid his achievements under the bushel unless called upon to speak of them. What he loved doing and did with panache was telling a good story...Navroze was not merely full of life. He was life.”

Motoring journalist Adil Jal Darukhanawala remembered Navroze as one of the greatest motorcycle enthusiasts of India, an ace motorcycle racing photographer (covered Grand Prix races in the UK and Europe in the late 1960s and early 1970s), an accomplished author and historian, jazz aficionado, social chronicler, humanist, and a great friend. “Rest in peace, Navroze! You were one in a billion among us bikers and to say you will be missed would be a gross understatement.” 

In an Instagram post, MTMGRID (Motorcycle Travellers Meet) hailed him as ‘the oldest rider in the coterie — the one with maximum stories, funniest anecdotes, and the best advice for the youngsters!’ And they concluded: ‘Navroze Contractor! You shrank the world for us.’

Close to his heart

Navroze’s interest in photography was triggered at an early age. Way back in 1956-57, the iconic photo exhibit ‘The Family of Man’ passed through seven cities in India — Agra, Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi, Trivandrum, Ahmedabad, and Madras. Curated by Edward Steichen (1879-1973), the much-admired exhibition featured about 500 photographs from 68 countries and more than 250 artists. “My mother took me to see the exhibition in Ahmedabad,” reminisced Navroze, “and I decided then and there that I would become a photographer.” 

In the early 1960s when he joined the arts course at M S University, Baroda, Navroze showed proficiency in sculpting but opted for and obtained his BFA in painting and photography. Within the overall context of image making, it was documentary photography that was closest to his heart. ‘I went out into the villages, to people, to the down parts of the city where I think life is exciting. It never excited me to take photographs of the middle-class and rich life. It just never did.’

In Baroda, Navroze was mentored by Bhupendra Karia, “a brilliant man, a perfectionist, a hard taskmaster who believed in the discipline of precision.” Karia, it seems, had the habit of locking his young student up in the darkroom from Friday night to Sunday night and making him print dozens of photographs. “He would give me food through the windows!” Karia also taught his young ward a very important lesson that Navroze remembered all his life: “Always respect your subject.” 

Lifelong learner

Navroze’s passion for moving images was cultivated at the Film & Television Institute of India, Pune. “My real first guru was (the great film archivist) Paramesh Krishnan Nair (then lecturer in the cinematography department) at FTII. I learnt everything about cameras, labs, and film from him. The more interest I showed, the more he taught me. In one year, I could work on any camera, do lab work, grade negatives, handle lights and even run a projector.”

A lifelong ‘learner’, Navroze went to the US to study under master cinematographer László Kovács. Never afraid to experiment with new technology, he switched from analogue to digital completely. “A lot of people have a problem with change but I don’t. I was one of the first in India to absorb video as a cinematographer. I went to Japan to study video production at Sony Corporation, Tokyo, and everybody looked down on it.”

With his precocious talent, friendly attitude, and artistic connections, Navroze emerged as one of the most admired cinematographers in the country. His work in award-winning features including Duvidha (1972, directed by Mani Kaul), 22nd June 1897 (1979/Nachiket Patwardhan), Percy (1989/Pervez Merwanji), and Hun Hunshi Hunshilal (1991/Sanjiv Shah) are spoken with respect and admiration to this day. In the documentary genre, he collaborated in international ventures directed by George Luneau, Pierre Hoffmann, and Martha Stewart, among others. In India, he worked with well-known directors including Ketan Mehta and Deepa Dhanraj to produce some of the best-known documentaries of his time. Two of his own ventures, Bharat Parikrama (chronicling his historic circumnavigation of India on a motorcycle in 2005), and Jhadu Katha (Broom story) are must-see films for any budding filmmaker.

Navroze considered the still photographs of W Eugene Smith as the biggest influence for all his work. He also greatly admired Latin American films and “‘the rhythms, blood, sweat and tears in Cuban films.” As for his own work, he admitted that “my visual style is such that probably my documentaries look like feature films and feature films look like documentaries.” He considered filmmaker Mani Kaul to be a cinema genius. “I made Duvidha with him. The first thing I noticed was that he never had a script. It was all in his head.”

Above all, Navroze was a storyteller in the best sense of the term. He was always willing to share his extraordinary experiences in art, life, and motorbike adventures. He had a way with words, an amazing sense of timing and a wonderful sense of humour. His talk ‘Riding now, Riding then’ at MTM 2013 (available on YouTube) is a masterclass in storytelling and public speaking.