'Buniyaad' returns

One of the landmark series of Indian television, Buniyaad that dealt with the 1947 partition is all set to be aired on Doordarshan again. Directed by Ramesh Sippy, it was aired on Doordarshan way back in 1986 and later had re-runs on the satellite channels. The series, which redefined the careers of most of its actors that included Alok Nath, Kanwaljeet Singh, Kiran Juneja and Neena Gupta will be aired for the sixth time from next Thursday. The veteran director got the cast together to relive their golden days recently.

Alok Nath who played the iconic character of Haveliram reminisces

The serial was literally the buniyaad (foundation) for so many actors. We were in awe of Sippy, who had directed Sholay. A bunch of strugglers, we were like students and it was an enormous feeling to learn from him and perform. I had the role of a lifetime and am still looking for something that can be compared with that. I remember I had come from Delhi, was doing theatre and looking for work in movies. In the early days of TV, Sippy Films had made a serial Chapte Chapte, a satire on editors and newspapers in which I played an uncouth editor.

I had also done a tiny role in Saraansh. I think all that helped me land me the role of Haveliram.  However, I was very nervous when I went to meet Rameshji. A puny man, he looked me all over for 20 seconds and shook my hand saying I was on. I almost fainted. The serial changed my life completely.

It started out with me and Anita Kanwar (Lajoji) playing 20-year old youngsters who are at time shy and at times frivolous. As the serial progressed we aged. I played a 70 plus man in the last episode. However, though we played youngsters for almost five months I got stuck with the older version of Haveliram and all the roles that followed both in films and TV typecast me. I feel sad that I lost out on the younger stage but there are no regrets because of the sheer quantum of work that I got thanks to Buinyaad.