Mumbai: If you're in your twenties, chances are your parents have told you the story. The streets cleared out at 10 minutes to nine every Friday night and the same tune would emanate from every home -- the theme music of Ramayan, the ambitious TV series based on Valmiki's Ramayana and Tulsidas' Ramcharitmanas.

It was the mother of all TV soaps, the mega mythological that three generations sat down to watch together. Twenty years later, Ramayan returns to television with grander sets and new faces, and hoping to grab the attention of a new generation - a generation of channel-surfers.

“Thirty-eight million people are below the age of 20. They have just heard that streets used to be empty, traffic used to stop and that even in Karachi it used to be the same. Now this generation needs to experience the same magic,” says producer, Ramayan, Prem Sagar.

Cosmetic, superficial changes notwithstanding, the new Ramayan is expected to have the same spirit as the original one and will be told in much the same melodramatic style, say the show's producers, the Sagars, who also produced the original show in 1988.

For die-hard mythological fans – like your grandparents for example – the most obvious change will be the absence of familiar faces. Don't expect to see old favourites Arun Govil and Deepika playing Ram and Sita, and no chances of Dara Singh returning as Hanuman.

While Gurmeet Choudhary plays Ram, Dibani Bonnerjee takes over Sita’s mantle from Deepika. Ankit Arora plays Lakshman and Lalit Negi is Shatrughan.

Even as a new generation of actors gets ready to slip into those fancy robes, the stars of the original series reminisce about those good ol' days.

“There were times when people used to put our pictures – mine and Arun’s – and would pray. We have seen that happen,” says Deepika.

With rising production costs and the fact that TV actors today are better paid that they have ever been, it's no surprise the new Ramayan is a more expensive show to produce.

Technology has improved considerably and that naturally comes with a cost. The flipside however, is that unlike the original show, this one will face fierce competition in a saturated television market.

Reflecting the giant leaps in animation and CGI, the new Ramayan will merge live action and animation -- particularly to create Hanuman, the much-loved monkey-god and faithful friend of Lord Ram.

But despite the new look and fancy sets, it's clear the biggest challenge for the new show will be the obvious comparisons between the actors then and now.

In these times of cut-throat channel wars and TRP-driven programming, the big question is, will the new Ramayan retain the simplicity of the original show? More importantly, will the show succeed in taking a new generation back to its roots?