Eight films of Guru Dutt are being showcased as part of a special screening on the works of the legendary actor-director from today in New York.

"A Heart as Big as the World: The Films of Guru Dutt" (till October 11) is a compliment of the selection of the 47th New York Film Festival by The Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Indo-American Arts Council.

This is the first American retrospective on Dutt, featuring six films spanning his career as a director, two as an actor and producer and a documentary on Dutt.

Most films have never screened in the US and those that have, have not been seen in decades, the organisers said.

Throughout his career he turned out crime thrillers (Baazi), screwball comedies (Mr and Mrs '55), pirate swashbucklers (Baaz), and melodramas (Chaudhvin Ka Chand) with equal verve.

Especially in his two masterpieces, Pyaasa (Thirst) and Kaagaz Ke Phool (Paper Flowers), both featuring Dutt in the lead roles, the space between creator and creation seems almost nonexistent.

His illustrious career was tragically cut short by his suicide in 1964, when he was only 39.

Besides these films, other works of Dutt to be shown are Aar-Paar and Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam besides a documentary on him by Nasreen Munni Kabir named "In Search of Guru Dutt".