Photography Strictly Prohibited, an exhibition of photographs by the late Navroze Contractor gets underway at Goethe Zentrum Hyderabad in Banjara Hills. Curated by Sanjiv Shah, Anuj Ambalal and Himanshu Panchal, the retrospective exhibition, to be inaugurated by writer-director Deepa Dhanraj, being held as part of the Indian Photo Festival (IPF) 2024 will feature select works of Navroze, a still photographer, cinematographer, writer and bike enthusiast.

The exhibition assumes significance as Navroze’s photos — except for a series on jazz and wrestlers from Dharwad — have never been shown publicly. Visitors can expect a gamut of works and his evolution as an artist, from his early days to the time he was behind the camera.’

The curators went through more than 20,000 negatives to put together a collection of his works, which would reflect ‘how he looked at the world because he was not a conventional photographer or a photojournalist and never did consistent stories’. “According to me — and I might be wrong— photography, for Navroze, was a way to hone his skill as a cinematographer because that required a connection with people, to understand how they behave and move,” says filmmaker Sanjiv, Navroze’s friend for more than three decades, who has also written a book on him. (Navroze was the cameraman for most of Sanjiv’s films).

Another display of around 200 photographs of his is currently on at Satya Art Gallery in Ahmedabad.

Bond with people

Navroze Contractor | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement/Mallikarjun Katakol

Navroze’s photos connected with people and this bond is reflected in his images which have people either looking at him or the camera. “None of the pictures were taken when the person was not aware that he/she was being photographed. He could have that equation with people, even without saying anything,” shares Sanjiv.

Anuj recalls a conversation with Navroze about how he got into photography after going with his mother to The Family of Man, a photography exhibition curated by Edward Seison, director of MoMA (The Museum of Modern Art, New York) in the late 50s in Ahmedabad. With a display of around 500 photographs contributed by 273 photographers from 68 countries, the images displayed at The Family of Man exhibition narrated the human experience from birth to death. “The idea of the exhibition (held after World War II) was to depict that people all around the world are equal and their feelings are the same, irrespective of their race and the place they came from. Navroze was also interested in life, in humans.”

Navroze got his negatives scanned and photos reviewed for the first time, a year before he passed away following an accident in 2023. Anuj explains the buzz about his photo series on jazz was due to the quality of the pictures. “It was not just his knowledge of jazz but he also shared a good rapport with some of these artists, who were his friends. The pictures were acquired by the Smithsonian Museum in their permanent collections.”

Filmmaker Mani Kaul (1974) | Photo Credit: Navroze Contractor

Anuj’s favourite images from Navroze’s collection keeps changing each time he looks at them. But the portraits — of people working in an industry or famous personalities (Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Mani Kaul, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi among others) and children — create an immersive experience. “He was able to capture certain moments and bring these individuals to life; they start speaking to the viewer.”

Photography Strictly Prohibited, an exhibition of photographs by (late) Navroze Contractor is on at Goethe Zentrum Hyderabad, Road no. 3, Banjara Hills, till December 2