Dil Ek Mandir (The heart is a temple) is a 1963 Indian Hindi language romantic film directed by C. V. Sridhar  and written by Raj Baldev Raj. The film stars Rajendra Kumar, Meena Kumari, Raaj Kumar and Mehmood.

Dr. Dharmesh (Rajendra Kumar) and Sita (Meena Kumari) are in love, and hope to marry on Dharmesh’s return from abroad. When Dharmesh returns, he is devastated to find that Sita has married someone else. He then decides to devote the rest of his life at a cancer clinic. One of his patients is Ram (Raaj Kumar), who is critically ill, and has to be operated upon. Things progress well, until Dharmesh meets Ram’s wife – none other than Sita.

Ram is diagnosed to have cancer. Dr. Dharmesh is uncomfortable to interact in front of Sita’s husband. Sita suspects that Dr. Dharmesh will not be able to give her husband a fair treatment because of his love interest in her. When she mentions this to him he promises her that he will try his best to save her husband. Ram overhears this conversation and later suggests to Sita that she should marry Dr. Dharmesh after his death. Ram is to undergo a major surgery under Dr. Dharmesh, which will decide his fate. Dr. Dharmesh is seized with a feeling that he can’t afford to fail in this surgery, as it might seem that he was biased due to Sita. Dharmesh now has to battle with his conscience, and his medical ethics to save Ram. He works hard for the preparation of the surgery, without proper food/sleep for a long time. Finally, at the end the surgery takes place. Dr. Dharmesh comes out from the operation theatre and tells Sita that the operation was successful and her husband is safe.

This film is a classic love triangle fully embedded in Indian traditional familial web. Meena Kumari gave a sterling tragic performance with impressive Rajendra Kumar as her ex-flame, now a renowned Cancer specialist in a hospital. She is now fully  devoted ,  loved  her husband. She even doubted the sincerity of Doctor Rajendra Kumar in effectively treating her hubby. In the process husband Raj Kumar also comes to know about their past love and sincerely advises Meena to go back to the Doctor as he is ,otherwise  a terminal patient. Meena Kumari sternly refuses such an idea and expressed her  devotion in the mind-boggling serious song “Hum Tere Pyar Mein Sara Aalam Kho Baithe, Tum kehte ho ke Aise Pyar ko Bhool Jaaoon” aptly worded  by Hasrat Jaipuri and touchingly tuned by Shankar Jaikishen. Rajendra Kumar was also a man of strong conscience and sense of duty.  He painfully worked hard in saving Raj Kumar but in the process jeopardized  his own life.

Story writer director C V Sridhar,   excelled in treating thematic emotional conflicts of the Characters.

All the songs in the film were of top class. Child lullaby “O Meri Ladli”, sentimental  with tragic tinge “Ruk Ja Raat Thehar Ja Re Chanda”, “Yaad Na Jaaye” and the theme song “Dil Ek Mandir Hai” are all unforgettable. In this film Hasrat Jaipuri was the solo song writer for the Music maestros Shankar Jaikishen and he did full justice in lifting the mood of the film .

At the 11th Filmfare Awards, Raaj Kumar won the Best Supporting Actor Award and Arjun Dec Rashk won Best Dialogue.

Photos courtesy Google. Excerpts taken from Google.