It was a walk down memory lane for film stars at the 50th anniversary of Filmfare awards.

Superstar Amitabh Bachchan expressed his grouse against the Filmfare awards for not honouring his idol Dilip Kumar with the ''Best Actor'' trophy for the latter's performance in the film ''Ganga Jamuna''.

The thespian's performance in the film had been the best during that year, he said.

'' We artistes crave and seek recognition. We have been critical, ynical, frustrated about the Filmfare awards ..... But, we have always thought about it and desired it,'' he said at the unveiling of the golden statue to mark the 50th anniversary of the awards.

Dilip Kumar, who was the first recepient of the Filmfare award on March 23, 1954 for his performance in ''Daag'', said he would not be able to hold the ''golden lady'' anymore but would surely attend the function to see Bachchan winning it this year.

Melody Queen Lata Mangeshkar recalled that for the first two years, Filmfare did not honour playback singers and lyricists. ''I disagreed with their contention that even in Hollywood, there were no awards for music. In India, music is an integral part of the film industry, and I was happy when I won the playback singing award for Madhumati''.

The first awards presentation function, held at the Metro Cinema, saw ''Do Bigha Zameen'' winning the best film award and its director Bimal Roy, the best director award. Meena Kumari won the award for ''Baiju Bawra'' and Dilip Kumar for ''Daag''. The best music award had gone to Naushad for ''Baiju Bawra''.

Padma Bhushan awardee Yash Chopra suggested that the filmfare should honour Dilip Kumar, Lata and Naushad for their contribution to cinema, in its 50th year. ''They had won the first filmfare awards and they should be honoured in the 50th year as well,'' he said.

Javed Akhtar, who has received 13 filmfare trophies so far, revealed that he felt the same excitement each time he went up to receive the award.

''As an assistant to Kamal Amrohi, I lived in the costume room of the studio. It was in this room, I found the costumes of ''Pakeezah'' and three filmfare trophies of Late Meena Kumari. I would hold the trophy and look at myself in the mirror,'' he recalled.

Indu Jain of The Times of India, said starting off with only a handful of categories, the Filmfare awards are today a movement that have witnessed the evolution of Hindi films.

''Over the decades, it has always celebrated the achievements of the industry - a glorious path, an exhilarating journey, that now culminates in its 50th year. Today, as it celebrates its golden jubilee, it is indeed a momentous occasion to raise a toast to Indian cinema and most importantly to the passion of the ordinary Indian moviegoer,'' she said.