The work of the late cinematographer Navroze Contractor was celebrated with a double-feature program of two of his films, Duvidha (directed by Mani Kaul) and Hun Hunshi Hunshilal (English title Love in the Time of Malaria, directed by Sanjiv Shah) at the Lincoln Center, New York on April 22, 2024. These films "will screen theatrically in the US for the first time,” along with an extended conversation with Contractor’s wife Deepa Dhanraj, stated the website of the Lincoln Center.
Above r: Navroze Contractor and posters of his films
Their website notes that "From the early ’70s onwards, (Contractor) blazed a trail of radical image-making… Trained in fine arts, photography and cinematography, he wielded the camera as a weapon and a paintbrush, capturing both the thrills and the throes of popular uprisings in films that defined political documentary in India, and giving stunning form to the bold adventures in fiction undertaken by India’s parallel cinema filmmakers.” The website stated, "His long-time collaboration with his wife and director Dhanraj, and the feminist group they co-founded, the Yugantar Film Collective, resulted in a series of short and feature length films, including What Has Happened to This City? (1984) and Something Like a War (1991) — that endure as extraordinary, pulsating visual documents of collective power and anti-capitalist resistance.” Comparing Contractor to "Indian independent stalwarts like Mani Kaul, Chetan Shah, Ketan Mehta, Pattabhi Rama Reddy and Sanjiv Shah,” the website stated that "Contractor combined technical innovation and an eye for everyday beauty to render landscapes and faces with expressionistic minimalism.”
Contractor passed away in June 2023 following a road accident (see "Reels and wheels,” In Memoriam, Parsiana, July 21-August 6, 2023).
Contractor’s cousin and Delhi Parsi Anjuman trustee Dr Sanaya Nariman brought this snippet about the screening in New York to the attention of Parsiana.