Hassan spent most of his time at the wedding preaching the Quaid's message and the rest of it teasing his cousin Rabia and flirting with Bano.

He is a final year engineering student at the Islamia College, an active supporter of the All-India Muslim League, and the leader of the Ludhiana Branch.

The political debate between Saleem and Hassan begins as friendly competition, but intensifies as conditions worsen throughout India for Muslims.

Saleem, hot-tempered and rash, begins bringing political debates into family life and eventually forbids Suraiya to visit Hassan, her nephew.

Other than Saleem, his entire family becomes strong supporters of the Muslim League, especially Bano, who makes posters and signs for the Pakistan Movement.

Upon hearing this, Rashida takes her brother and sister-in-law and asks for Bano's hand in marriage for Hassan.

During this time, tensions between Hindus and Muslims escalate dramatically, and violence breaks out all across India.

Hate crimes against Muslims become common, and fighting spreads to all states, getting threateningly closer to Ludhiana.

All the men (which includes many other Muslims who sought refuge in their house) stay on the bottom floor with their swords and knives intending to fight.

Bano and Bibi manage to escape Ludhiana, where they seek shelter in a refugee camp for Muslims.

A Sikh man stumbles upon Bano and her dead mother, and he helps nurse her back to health.

It was common for trains to arrive in Lahore full of dead Muslims with only a few survivors and vice versa.

At first, she refuses to tell them her name, so Basant Singh calls her Sundar Kaur, meaning "beautiful lioness" in Punjabi.

Nearly a year later, Basant has not lived up to his promise, claiming that the roadways are blocked and travelling to Pakistan is too dangerous.

He spends the next five years beating, raping, and emotionally torturing Bano after forcibly marrying and converting her.

However, she doesn't give up and makes his blood boil by shouting abuses at him and never forgetting that she is a Muslim.

One day, Basant dies as he tries to save their infant son Bhagat Singh as he's about to fall from the roof.

In Pakistan, Hassan undergoes severe depression after realising that Suraiyyah, Bano and their other relatives must have been brutally raped and killed.

However, one day, he overhears a conversation between his parents about Rabia taking care of Bano so Hassan can see the goodness in her.

The Dastaan theme, "Aasmanon Se", was composed and sung by Sohail Haider and was written by Sahir Altaf.

On being asked to choose Razia Butt novel Bano as an inspiration for the serial Dastaan, Haissam Hussain revealed that about three years ago, he did a telefilm by Umera Ahmad, Mutthi Bhar Mitti ,which got a great response, so Momina Duraid and him decided to work with the theme of Partition.

Other notable locations include the Islamia College, Badshahi Mosque and Lahore Junction railway station.

Dastaan was aired in Middle East on MBC Bollywood under the title حب عبر الحدود (transl.

[7] It aired in India on Zindagi as Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam from March 23, 2015.

[10] Dastaan was widely appreciated by the viewers and received positive reviews from critics due to its subject, genre, performances and direction.

[16] DAWN Images ranked it as most iconic TV drama of Pakistan, praising the direction and for balancing the historical details and political sensitivities.

[17] People Magazine Pakistan included it amaong the best work on partition of the Indian subcontinent.

[18] A notice was issued by Justice Mukul Mudgal against Zindagi on account of complaints received by the Indian Ministry of Broadcasting and Information.