The lonely wife, the reluctant goddess, the not so ordinary everyman - it was a moving reunion Tuesday for late filmmaker Satyajit Ray's immortal characters at the launch of a literary tribute to his genius.

Ray's discoveries Sharmila Tagore and Jaya Bachchan, his muse Madhabi Mukherjee and his favourite and most repeated hero Soumitra Chatterjee came together at the release of "The Vision of Ray: Cine Posters & Beyond", a book that seeks to unveil the true extent of Ray's versatility.

Sharing the platform with them was Jaya Prada, the actress famously described as India's most beautiful face by the renowned, Oscar-decorated Ray.

But perhaps the most poignant of all was the presence of Uma Sen and Subir Banerjee - the young siblings "Durga" and "Apu" of his landmark film "Pather Panchali" (The Song Of The Road), which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

"He changed my life forever...I miss him terribly," said a moist-eyed Sharmila Tagore, one of Ray's favourite heroines who acted in at least three of his major films.

"I feel it is about time we did something to honour him at the national level," said the Censor Board chairperson, turning meaningfully to the politicians on the dais - Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and the Samajwadi Party's Amar Singh.

Tagore regretted that in his time, Ray could not get the recognition he deserved in the country.

Jaya Bachchan, who confessed to have been irrevocably drawn into films since her meeting with Ray as a 13-year-old, agreed: "People like Ray should have a whole nation named after them."

But Soumitro Chatterjee, a regular in most Ray films, announced that he did not really miss Ray, fondly called "Manik-da" by those close to him.

"There is not a single day that I don't think about him and benefit from him in some way or the other. He is always with me, even if he is not physically present..."

The "Vision of Ray", published by Pratikshan, comprises pages of Ray's artwork, illustrations, posters, billboards, calligraphy, design and even music compositions, every bit that went into the creation and presentation of a film.

Commentaries by artist-friend Paritosh Sen and son Sandip Ray, and movie synopses intersperse the glossy pages of colour, black-and-white and sepia illustrations by Ray.

"Ray was perhaps the last representative of the great renaissance movement of West Bengal," observed Defence Minister Mukherjee, who just for a few moments became one of the tens of thousands of Bengalis who grew up in the remarkable world of Ray.