Buniyaad - Nostalgia times

After 'Hum Log' sort of opened the era of long-running serials on Indian television, making Doordarshan much more entertaining, it was the turn of another long running serial to try and captivate users. Buniyaad, from the Sippy house, was the next major running serial to capture viewers on Doordarshan. The serial started in 1987 and ran through 1988. The serial, however, will not ring in memories for a large number of TV viewers of today, given that it first appeared more than 19 years back.
The serial was directed by Ramesh Sippy, and was written by Manohar Shyam Joshi, and let to him becoming much more popular (he was already popular through being the writer of the serial Hum Log as well). The serial had the presence of Dadamoni Ashok Kumar who anchored the show without actually playing a part in the serial. The serial starred a number of characters who became very popular:

Alok Nath - Master Haveliram: The simple and unassuming teacher, he formed the backbone of the serial
Anita Kanwar - Lajoji: The simple wife of Master Haveliram, she was his student, but soon they realized that they shared a strong bond
Dalip Tahil - Master Haveliram's elder son: Dalip Tahil has probably had the biggest movie career out of the entire cast of the serial
Soni Rajdan - Sulochana: Master Haveliram's elder daughter-in-law
Kiran Juneja - Veeravali: Haveliram's sister. Kiran Juneja became very famous after the serial. As a side note, she also married the director Ramesh Sippy.
Vijayendra Ghatge - Vrushbhan: Veeravali's love interest
Kanwaljit Singh - Satbir: Vrushbhan's illegitimate son. Kanwaljit went onto act in many other hindi serials such as Saans, Family No. 1, Dard and Siski
Abhinav Chaturvedi - Jay: Vrushbhan's legitimate son
Krutika Desai - Mangla: Jay's wife and love interest of Satbir. This was a nice challenging role for her in terms of maintaining her relationship with her husband Jay, as well as maintaining a friendship with Satbir.

Buniyaad has a special attraction for the older generation because of the capturing of a number of emotions related to partition. The serial is based around the family of Master Haveliram (a dedicated teacher) and his wife Lajoji. They have a beautiful family with 3 sons and a daughter, and when everything seems great, the disaster of partition strikes.
They are now refugees in India, having lost all their material possessions, and have to make a life for themselves now. The serial is about this life, about the refugee camp and the rise in life while trying to maintain their principles in life.