Buniyaad's back!

Today's generation of TV viewers are in for a treat. From 26 January onwards, when they switch on SaharaOne at 8 pm Monday through Saturday they will have an opportunity to enjoy what the previous generation did in the form of the ever fresh television classic Buniyaad. The network is all set to re create the magic of a young couple growing up in an India bedevilled by religious strife and the travails of their family after that. What is laudable about the SaharaOne's initiative is perhaps the timing. Some channels are going all out to launch new shows based on foreign concepts and formats. Others are continuing with long running high TRP generating tear jerker soaps. SaharaOne has gone ahead and taken up a classic that is Indian and has mass appeal. The channel management's belief: "There is a whole generation out there who would be raring to catch a glimpse of the subtle yet intense romance between Masterji(Alok Nath ) and Lajoji (Anita Kanwar)." "It's the best that we have got! It is replete with the history of the country and hardly15 per cent of the present generation must have seen it," says SaharaOne, COO, Purnendu Bose. Buniyaad is special in more ways than one. It was the highest rated programme on TV in the 80's - along with Hum Log - till Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayana achieved the same feat. It portrayed the trials and tribulations of partition with such sensitivity that the actors working in the show became household names and it was one of the earliest TV serials in Indian television history to have lavish sets and overwhelming drama. The show produced by Sippy Films, premiered on Doordarshan in 1985. It was aired twice a week — on Tuesdays and Saturdays at 9 pm. For the one and a half years it was on air, Buniyaad ruled — people would not move out of their houses so that they wouldn’t miss the show. The cast included Anita Kanwar, Alok Nath, Kanwaljeet, Kulbhushan Kharbhanda, Abhinav Chaturvedi, Kruttika Desai, Kiran Juneja and others. The show will see some changes that have been brought about due to technical necessities and to make it more in tune with the current generation. " It has been touched up a little bit. We have also done some colour correction. Sonu Nigam has sung the original sound track and he was thrilled to bits to be able to be part of such a classic," says Bose. The relaunch of Buniyaad in 2006 is extra special for Kiran Joneja. The lady met her husband, director, Ramesh Sippy on the sets of this show. "It's been a long journey of 20 years, and it's been a happy one.I am really looking forward to watching the show myself, it brings back such happy memories," says the actor who is currently doing Sinndoor on Zee.