Guru Dutt, the brooding, intense actor-director of the 1950s, was remembered by close friends and contemporaries at a function here to release a commemorative postage stamp on the late artiste.

Some actrors who had worked with Guru Dutt - Waheeda Rehman, Jagdeep, Shakila, Sashikala and Shama - and veteran cameraman V.K. Murthy were present at the function held Sunday at ITC Grand Maratha Sheraton.

Veteran actor Shammi Kapoor was to be the chief guest, but his ill health prevented him from attending.

Music company Saregama released a special four-pack audio CD of songs from the films of Guru Dutt. Musician Bhupen Hazarika released the audio CDs.

Ameen Sayani hosted the show in his typical style. A 15-minute documentary on the life and career of Guru Dutt, whose full name was Guru Dutt Shivshankar Padukone, with script and narration by Harish Bhimani, was screened on the occasion.

Other guests included writer Abrar Alvi and K. Noorjehan, the chief postmaster general, Maharashtra and Goa.

There were rare photographs of Guru Dutt on display at the show. A film producer, Dutt was a great photographer as well. Photographs taken by him were on display. Also on display was the camera that he used as well as letters he wrote to friends.

Yesteryears actress Waheeda Rahman, says: "As a director Guru Dutt was a perfectionist who never compromised on quality. He created a unique atmosphere through his sense of music, unique picturisation of songs and his subtle but intelligent dialogues."

Well known singers Sudesh Bhosle, Sunidhi Chauhan, Sadhana Sargam and Javed Ali sang well-known numbers from Guru Dutt's films.

Filmmaker Govind Nihalani, who had been assistant to Guru Dutt's cameraman V.K. Murthy, said he had used Murthy's style in his first film "Shantata, Court Chalu Aahe". He had developed his own style later.

"Guru Dutt introduced the use of long focal length lenses in Indian films," tells Govind Nihalani.

Kalpana Lajmi, the niece of Guru Dutt and Shyam Benegal, also participated in the show.

Some modern generation actors and filmmakers present on the occasion were: Jackie Shroff, Om Puri, Poonam Dhillon, Neena Gupta, Prasoon Joshi, Anupam Kher, Prakash Jha, Anita Kanwal with her daughter Pooja and Mehmood's brother Anwar Ali.