New show of Sagar arts...

In a move that hopes to bring back the good old days when the entire family used to lounge together in the living room, hooked on to television, India's most widely viewed mythological series, Ramayan is all set to come back and enthrall the audiences in its yet new avatar.

Sukesh Motwani, head of fiction programming said, "Ramayan is a way of life that our future generations must carry on as their biggest legacy and as a story, it is timeless and will never lose its relevance. It is rich in the core values, ideals and principles that form the crux of Indian culture and upbringing. So, in bringing Ramayan back, we have a twin objective. First is to foster the concept of the whole family, right from grandma and grandpa to the baby in the house, engaging in a joint TV viewing experience. And our other equally important agenda is to reach out to an entire generation of youngsters who have unfortunately not had the privilege of growing up watching Ramayan like the rest of us have."

Ramayan will be an absolute recreation of the original classic. Based on Valmiki's ancient religious epic of the same name, it will thrive on authenticity of representation. Confident of recreating the aura and the nostalgia of the original classic, Motwani said, "We have roped in the only team in India truly equipped for the task and if anyone can make the magic of Ramayan come alive, it is the Sagars. Ramanand ji (Sagar) did it brilliantly once and Moti Ji & Minakshi, who have inherited Ramayan as a part of their core DNA, are all set to recreate the classic."

While the casting has not been frozen, prominent actors are being considered for the roles of Ram and Sita. While actors Aditya Redij, Avinash Sachdev and Amir Dalvi have been approached to play Ram, Sanjeeda Sheikh, Suhasi Dhami and Rubina Dilaik have been auditioned for the role of Sita. It remains to be seen which of them will make history on Indian television as Ram and Sita!