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Buniyaad is back on the small screen

BACK TO "BUNIYAAD" A still from the serial

The Partition has inspired many stories and Buniyaad, a popular serial of the DD era beautifully brought out the emotions of the Partition. Lajoji, Veerawalli, Brij Bhan, Professor Saheb and company, the characters in the serial, are still remembered with nostalgia by many. "But sadly, it is remembered only by the older generation. As little as 15 per cent of today's youth has seen Buniyaad and some others have just heard of it," says SaharaOne CEO, Purnendu Bose. And this led the channel to air this Ramesh Sippy serial. Deepti Bhatnagar, actress-turned-producer, bought the rights from Sippy and started beaming it on SaharaOne (Monday to Thursday, 8 p.m.)

Says Deepti, "We have made a few cosmetic changes. For instance, touching up the colour and replacing Anup Jalota with Sonu Nigam to sing the theme song. We didn't want to change the dialogue because we realised that every word has something to do with the development of the story towards its logical end."

As to why she chose to buy the rights of only Buniyaad, Deepti says, "It was easy. You wouldn't think twice before buying the rights of Sholay, and on TV, it is clearly Buniyaad." That including Buniyaad had not only laid out the norms for a good TV serial those days, it also brought to light quite a few talented actors. such as Anita Kanwar, Alok Nath, Krutika Desai, Neena Gupta, Vijayendra and Kanwaljeet. Even Sippy found his future wife Kiran Joneja, who played the role of Veerawalli, on the sets of Buniyaad.

Backing Deepti's point on good content, Bose talks about "the lack of it" on TV these days despite the increase in the number of serials. "In this melee, one doesn't take much time to realise that the soul of TV is missing," he says.

SANGEETA BAROOAH PISHAROTY

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