# Buniyaad

Buniyaad (transl. Foundation) is an Indian television soap opera directed by Ramesh Sippy and Jyoti Sarup. The series was written by Manohar Shyam Joshi and dealt with the Partition of India in 1947 and its aftermath. It first aired in 1986 on the Indian state television channel DD National. It was re-aired on Sahara One in 2006, and on DD National and DD Retro during COVID-19 lockdown in India. The story spans the life in India between 1915 and 1985.

## Plot

Master Haveliram Khanna, a government school teacher, and his wife Lajwanti (Lajjo) were originally from Pindi. They lived with Lajwanti's maternal uncle Atmaanand, his two biological sons - Kulbushan and Roshanlal - and his adopted son Satbir (Sat). Satvir was the illegitimate son of Haveliram's sister Veerawali and her lover Vrishbhan. They lived in Bicchowali Gali, Lahore in 1947 during the Partition of India. During the Partition, 3/4th of the Hindu population migrated from Lahore, as the Pakistan was created, and millions of Muslims from India moved to Pakistan and Hindus from Pakistan to India, this largescale movement of people on both sides was at times aimed at securing fundemantal religious freedoms. Lajwanti sends his son Roshanlal to go for Okara to rescue Channi, Dammo, and Guru Dutt, relatives of Lajwanti's maternal family. Roshanlal's bus is looted near Shahdara Bagh. However, he reaches the DAV College Lahore Refugee Camp to save his life. Satbir went to Gaindamal in Gawalmandi shop for his well-being.
Lala Gaindamal originally came from Mandi Bahauddin in 1900, within 4 years. In 1904, he opened a shop in Anarkali Bazaar and owned a house in Kucha Radha Kishan of the Old City of Lahore. Lochan's family migrated to Shimla in July 1947 and she forced Kulbushan to migrate to East Punjab, Dominion of India but Kulbhushan stayed in Lahore. Riots occurred in West Punjab where the Hindus were killed by the Muslim mobs. Lajwanti and sons migrated to independent India in a convoy and remember the days in 1915 when she met Master Haveliram and how Veerawali avoided relationships, coming from Montgomery and Wazirabad. Lajwanti's uncle takes him away forcefully to Lajwanti in Pindi and sells him to an old drunkard as a bride, but destiny had something else in the store and he died at the wedding night and she again came to Bicchowali in Lahore. Veerawali and Lajjo regularly meet each other at Shah Alami Gate. Again, Ralliyaram came with a relation from Chak Jhumra and she again denied it. Veerawali likes Vrishbhan, who was from Delhi when he came to Lahore during a business trip with Veerawali's father. Lajjo and their sons, Kulbhushan, his pregnant wife Lochan, with his daughter and son, Roshanlal and Satbir migrated towards India. Lochan gave birth to a baby girl when she crossed the Ravi and forced Kulbhushan to meet his father who was sick in Shimla, but Satbir said that all the families of Korey Koot and most refugees migrated to New Delhi as the capital of India where the refugee camps would be in a good condition and Kulbhushan said to his mother and brothers, "You will wait for me in Ambala". But Roshanlal said, "We have a perfect livelihood and the employment opportunities in Delhi rather than in Shimla". Finally, Lajjo and her sons reached the Purana Qila Refugee Camp in Delhi. At the refugee camp, Lajjo meets with many people who came as refugees in Delhi from the different cities of Punjab, Rawalpindi, Sheikhupura, and Sialkot.
Bubbly, who was from Sheikhupura, lost her parents in riots and found her relatives when she worked as a list maker in different refugee camps like Kingsway Camp, Kashmiri Gate, Subzi Mandi, and Gandhi Maidan, became the love interest of JB, but didn't marry due to misunderstanding created by Shyamlal and heartbroken, she reached to Saharanpur but reached to Calcutta for work but betrayed by Dalpat and sold to the hotel and work as a dancer and renamed as Barbie. Roshanlal and Satbir searched Haveliram everywhere in all camps of Punjab from Ambala, Ludhiana, and Jalandhar. In Jalandhar, they met Munshi Khajanchand who saw Haveliram on a train heading towards Pathankot at the Amritsar Railway Station. Haveliram, which was lost in Lahore, was found in Kashmir with the help of Nivedita Sengupta. Roshanlal received him from the Ambala Cantonment, but lost his memory but got back his memory when he again slipped from the stairs of a basement to see Habibullah, who hid himself from rioters. Haveliram was admitted to the hospital where he got his memory and asked him if he was in Mayo Hospital but Satbir told him that he was in Irwin Hospital. He then asked where was Arvin Hospital in Lahore but told him that he was in Delhi. Kulbhushan got a government quarter in Ludlow Castle, Delhi where the whole family shifted. Roshanlal wants to marry a rich Bengali lady Nivedita for money. After some time, they got a house as a claim for the property, they left behind in Pakistan at Lajpat Nagar 1.

## Cast

| Actor/Actress | Character | Notes |
| Sudhir Pandey | Lala Gaindamal | Haveliram's father |
| Asha Sharma | Janko (Chachi Ji) | Haveliram's mother |
| Rajesh Puri | Munshi Khajanchand | Gaindamal's accountant (munshi) |
| Bharti Achrekar | Rampyari | Fruit-seller Rampyara's wife and Gaindamal's family acquaintance |
| Meher Mittal | Rampyara | Fruit-seller Rampyari's husband and Gaindamal's family acquaintance |
| Girija Shankar | Raliyaram | Haveliram's elder brother and Shanno's husband |
| Asha Sachdev | Shanno | Gaindamal's elder daughter-in-law |
| Mangal Dhillon | Labhayaram | Raliyaram's son |
| Pallavi Joshi | Rano | Labhayaram's wife |
| Neesha Singh | Kanni | Labhaya's niece and Pasho's daughter |
| Gayathri Burman | Pasho | Raliyaram's only surviving daughter |
| Anjan Srivastav | Lala Dharamchand | Rano's Grandfather |
| Alok Nath | Master Haveliram | A freedom fighter and patriot |
| Anita Kanwar | Lajjo (Lajwanti) | Haveliram's wife |
| Goga Kapoor | Bhai Aatmaram | Lajwanti's uncle, Haveliram's mentor and fellow freedom fighter |
| Dalip Tahil | Bhushan (Kulbhushan) | Haveliram's elder son |
| Soni Razdan | Lochan (Sulochana) | Haveliram's elder daughter-in-law and Bhushan's wife |
| Rajan Haksar | Daddy Ji: Rai Bahadur Mewa Lal | Lochan's Father and Bhushan's Father-in-law |
| Sarita Sethi | Mummy Ji: Mohini Marasan | Lochan's mother and Bhushan's mother-in-law |
| Suresh Chatwal | Girdharilal | Lochan's stepbrother |
| Arun Bakshi | Kanwar | Play director and Lochan's love interest |
| Shernaz Patel | Kukki | Kulbhushan's elder daughter |
| Mazhar Khan | Roshan (Roshanlal) | Haveliram's younger son |
| Neena Gupta | Rajjo | Roshan's wife |
| Leela Mishra | Chachi | Rajjo's aunt and flat-owner |
| Natasha Sinha | Nivedita Sengupta | Roshan's first employer and love interest |
| Jayshree Arora | Mrs. Sengupta | Nivedita's Mother |
| Kiran Juneja | Veeravali in Lahore/ Pragyavati in Uttarkashi | Haveliram's sister |
| Sudhir Dalvi | Guruji | at Pragyavati's Uttarkashi ashram |
| Vijayendra Ghatge | Lala Vrishbhan | Veeravali's love interest, Satbir's and Jay's biological father |
| Anjana Mumtaz | Subhadra | Vrishbhan's wife and Jay's mother |
| Kanwaljit Singh | Satbir | Veeravali and Vrishbhan's illegitimate son, Haveliram and Lajjo's adopted son |
| Abhinav Chaturvedi | Jay Bhushan (Jay) | Vrishbhan's legitimate son, Kaka's biological father |
| Krutika Desai Khan | Mangla | Jay's wife and Satbir's lifelong love interest |
| Kamia Malhotra | Kanta Suri (Babli) in Sheikhupura -Delhi | Jay's secretary and love interest, Kaka's biological mother |
| Antariksh Mathur | Kaka | Satbir's adopted son, Babli's biological son |
| Vikas Anand | Harsharandas | Mangla's Father |
| Zankhana Desai | Rajrani | Mangla's mother |
| Vinod Nagpal | Shyamlal | Subhadra's family friend and distant relative |
| S. M. Zaheer | Habibullah | Vrishbhan's lawyer and friend |

## Reception

Madhu Jain of India Today wrote, "Tuesday and Saturday nights are curfew time in Lahore: the streets of the city are empty as people rush home to see their favourite Buniyaad. Back home in India too, the TV series is rapidly moving up the popularity charts, and now ranks second among all TV serials, behind Nukkad."