MUMBAI: Taking a cue from Star Plus, Zee TV is now gearing up to offer original content in the Sunday morning slot.

Starting 12 August, Zee TV will air mythological - Ramayan every Sunday at 11 am.

Ramayan, produced by Sagar Arts, will directly compete with Star Plus? Lakhon Mein Ek, which is being launched on 5 August in the same time slot.

Zee TV wants to reach out to the young viewers who had not watched the Ramanand Sagar-produced Ramayan aired decades ago. It also aims to foster family viewing of television programmes.

Interestingly, this is for the fourth time that Ramayan will be aired on television and second time on Zee TV. After its epic run on DD, Zee TV tried with a remake of Ramayan with BR Chopra. However that did not work well with the audiences then.

Later, in 2008, Imagine TV (then NDTV imagine) was launched with Ramayan as one of its flagship primetime properties.

Ramayan and Lakhon Mein Ek will be the only original shows to air in the Sunday morning slots on Hindi GECs. Lakhon Mein Ek will replace Aamir Khan?s Satyamev Jayate, which highlighted social issues ranging from corrupt doctors to female foeticide. The last episode of Satyamev Jayate was aired on 29 July.

Earlier, Colors had launched All Is Well with Dr. Ahluwalia for Sundays but had failed to attract viewers. This programme was aired at 12.30 pm every Sunday.

Zee TV head-fiction programming Sukesh Motwani said, "As a story, Ramayan is timeless and will never lose its relevance. It is rich in the core values, ideals and principles that form the crux of the Indian culture and upbringing."

"We have roped in the only team in India truly equipped for the task, the Sagars. Ramanandji (Sagar) did it brilliantly once. Moti ji and Minakshi, who have inherited Ramayan as a part of their core DNA, are all set to recreate the classic," Motwani added.

It is learnt that Colors will launch a mythological programme based on Goddess Durga, which is also being produced by Sagar Arts. However, the launch date and time slot is not known.

Jai Jai Jai Bajrangbali (Sahara One) and Devon Ke Dev... Mahadev (Life OK) are the other mythological shows currently running on Hindi GECs.