To the veteran stage actor, timing an entry comes instinctively. Even though confined to a wheelchair, Dinyar Contractor managed to enter the portals of Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi to hear the national anthem being played at the commencement of the awards function. Had he reached a couple of minutes later on March 16, 2019, he might have missed an audience with the President and Prime Minister of India.
"If I hadn’t gone, I would have repented,” the 77-year-old actor-director-producer told Parsiana six days later. Relating the sequence of events, he recalled that on March 11 he received an SMS stating that he should attend the function on March 16 when the Padma Shri award would be conferred on him by the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind. Recuperating from a spinal infection, he expressed his inability to be present and was reassured that the nation’s fourth highest civilian award would be presented to him in Bombay. On March 15, he received a phone call beseeching him to come to Delhi as he was the only Parsi on the Government of India honors list.
Whilst the Government pays the travel costs for the awardee and one companion, Contractor’s entourage consisted of four, including a ward boy and physiotherapist. The ordeal of booking flights at the last moment when "the rates kept escalating like the share bazaar,” required him to pay Rs 25,000 per ticket for the next morning’s Bombay-Delhi sector (and Rs 30,000 for the return the same evening). On reaching Delhi and resolving the confusion of landing at the domestic/international airport, yet another hurdle was getting him into the waiting Innova since leg movements were difficult due to his spinal condition. He was offered a brick as a stepping stone and with a lot of effort the ward boy managed to haul him into the car. In the meantime he kept receiving frantic calls from the undersecretary enquiring how far he had reached. Whilst the original plan was to take him to Ashok Hotel to freshen up before proceeding to Rashtrapati Bhavan, since he was running late, he was advised to come directly to Rashtrapati Bhavan. Not willing to compromise on his attire, the thespian though had decided he would change his shirt before the function.
The sight of Contractor wearing a burnt sienna shirt, grey trousers and a black topi covering his head at the ceremony reached many viewers the following day thanks to a video that went viral on WhatsApp. When the popular comedian was wheeled into the hall, the President stepped down from the dais to loop the medal on a pin previously affixed to Contractor’s shirt and to confer him with the Padma Shri certificate in Hindi commending his "vyaktigat goono (personal attributes).” In the subsequent fraternization with the awardees, Contractor felt very honored when the President came to enquire after his health and Prime Minister Narendra Modi "talked with me at length and having seen my plays in Ahmedabad told me, ‘Hassavaanu chaalu raakhvaanu chhé saheb, chhodta na (continue bringing laughter to others sir, don’t stop).’”
Awardees also received an invitation to attend the Independence Day function at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on August 15, 2019. Was he inclined to make another trip? "Of course; if I could go under the present circumstances, I will definitely go in August,” he confirmed. He further revealed that when he first received a call stating he was to receive the Government of India honor, he dismissed it as a phone prank until he received a written intimation. Earlier he was told that the awards presentation would be in May, so confident of recovering by then, he had planned to go in a dagli and pugree, "as typical a bawa as they want you to be... It is not clothes that make you what you are; it is the head that counts,” declared the artiste.
Another felicitation awaited him at the Dadar Parsi Colony in Bombay on Jamshedi Navroz when the Mancherji Edalji Joshi Memorial Trust (MEJMT) presented him the "Outstanding Contribution Award in the field of entertainment.” On the occasion of World Theater Day, March 27, he was felicitated by the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. Last March he had won the Zoroastrian Achiever Award from the Zoroastrian Trust Funds of India. "Adi Marzban and I are the only two Parsi thespians whose detailed interviews lie in the archives of All India Radio,” mentioned Contractor.
In 1966 he was a founder member of the Parsi Wing of the Indian National Theatre. The first play they performed was Dorab Mehta’s Tirangi Tehmul (Colorful Tehmul) based on an English film Boeing Boeing. Forty years later, the Hindi film Garam Masala (Hot spices) adopted the same story line. "You can see how advanced we were,” he commented wryly. He recalled the happy days of his youth, looking forward to the thrill of reading his name on theater boards each Sunday. He continues to be remembered for his memorable performances in Taru Maru Bakalyu (Your and my darling), Lafra Sadan (House of scandal) and Mamai ni Musaafri (Granny’s journey) Performers in those days would be paid Rs 35 per show as against the current rate of around Rs 2,000. On an average each show is performed a dozen times after which the cast is busy with rehearsals for another show. Some of the actors simultaneously work on television serials to supplement their income in which case shows are sometimes delayed if the cast members have not reached the venue on time.
Performing in a natak requires "a lot of discipline, punctuality, respect for the audience. You can’t take them for granted. You can’t be complacent. You have to live every moment,” he stressed. With the majority of his yesteryear co-actors having passed away, he now often shares the stage with their grandchildren. Among other surviving veterans he considers Burjor Patel "a great inspiration” and regarding his wife Ruby, Contractor says, "I have yet to come across a finer actor.”
"I don’t only belong to Parsi theater but to Gujarati theater which is more commercial,” claims the thespian. "Till 2013 I could do three shows in one day: the morning show that would be booked by a mahila mandal (women’s organization), the afternoon show for couples and the evening show for the general public.” His play Aadoshi vs Padoshi (neighbors) was performed 168 times, being popular in Bombay, Ahmedabad and Dubai. Many of his Gujarati productions that are enjoyed on the opening night are booked as full shows by Gujarati and Jain social organizations. The presence of Parsis and Gujaratis in the audience reassures the cast that the "performance will be a hit. Parsis and Gujaratis want to enjoy. They are not conservative. There is full-throated laughter unlike some other communities who maintain a stiff upper lip!” he observed.
His Gujarati play Maaro line tau tabiyat fine (Flirt to keep good health) that he wrote and directed was so popular that it was translated into Marathi and even that he directed. The next version of this play was in Hinglish and finally in English. He is conversant with all these languages as also "aapri second language (the colorful Parsi vocabulary freely interlaced with expletives).” With many of his nataks on YouTube, the current favorite is Bairi na be bol (Two words from a wife).
Fond of acting since his adolescent days as a student at St Mary’s, he recalls the time he performed Andher nagari chaupat raja (Dark city, incompetent king) in Hindi and The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes in English on the same day. His father Rustomji, a textile mill manager who had come to see him perform, went home and remarked to his mother Sakarbai, "Ai chhokro kai seekhé tévu laagtu nathi (It is doubtful whether this boy will pursue academics seriously).” Proving his father wrong, in his SSC examination he stood first among the Rustom Baug students and won the Sir Ness Wadia gold medal, he proudly revealed. Thereafter he did his BSc in chemistry and botany from K. C. College. He wanted to pursue his postgraduation but when he did not get the subjects of his choice, he joined the pharmaceutical firm Rallis and worked with them for 19 years until 1982 when he opted for the golden handshake.
Having performed "in all nooks and corners of the world barring Australia and New Zealand,” Contractor’s audiences in the US have sometimes numbered 2,000 and on other occasions 52. On one of his trips to Dubai he remembers being specially invited to perform a private show of I do, I don’t for one of the Arab princes who arranged for the cast to directly board the aircraft just in time for their departure.
"Without prayer I have not started a single show,” noted Contractor. A short ceremony behind the curtains includes lighting of a lamp, incense sticks, prayer to Lord Ganpati, chanting of Yatha and Ashem, breaking of a coconut and distribution of mithai. "This is what my seniors used to do. It is good to continue a good practice,” he believes.
Along with a plaque, MEJMT presented him a copy of the Khordeh Avesta in English. Familiar only with prayer books in Gujarati, Contractor who describes himself as "God fearing” adds, "I don’t pray a lot; whatever I know, I pray by heart… Prayers are most important. You have to embrace your religion.” The only one among five siblings who is not married, he has been intermittently residing with his elder sisters Freny Anjirbag in Dadar and Perviz Karkaria in Rustom Baug following his spinal problem. Observing his siblings "praying a lot and refusing to have their morning tea without lighting a divo and doing a kusti,” he recently joked with his niece Persis Irani, "I think I am staying in an agiary. Eeya khaali ghanta nathi vaagta (only the boi bells do not ring here).”
He appreciates that his family has been "most supportive throughout my 55 years of acting, so much so that if I am short of funds, they are willing to help me out.” Elder brother Aspi who is a chartered and cost accountant resides in London and younger brother Farokh is a medical practitioner in New Orleans. When asked why Dinyar chose to remain single, he uses a line from one of his plays, "I met the wrong girls at the right time and the right girl at the wrong time.” On a more serious note he adds, "You can’t be successful in everything. You have to accept failures in some fields.”
The unfolding of his life has given him much contentment, states Contractor, adding, "We have lived enough. We should not be a burden to anyone.” Currently he admits that he is "grumpy” because he is unable to work. But the thought of resuming rehearsals in May brings a cheer to his voice.