“Maybe it is time to go back to real life,' said Sudha Natrajan, associate director of Lintas Media Group.

The spate of religious programming, media analysts say, is rooted in viewers fatigued with the so-called K-serials and game shows. Another serial also is planned on the Upanishads. Meanwhile, producer Bobby Bedi, maker of movies such as The Rising: Ballad of Mangal Pandey, is remaking the Mahabharata as a serial, directed by Chandra Prakash Dwivedi, producer, director and actor of another popular serial Chanakya. Chopra, director of the renowned Mahabharata serial, is remaking the epic as a Rs100 crore movie. The new Ramayana is one of several religious entertainment remakes in the offering. “We wanted something that could bring the entire family together around dinner time, something that could become the core of our programming, that espoused good values.' Evergreen idols: NDTV Imagine hopes that its new series on Ramayana will bring the entire family together around dinner time.

Ramayan serial 2008