MUMBAI: Star Plus, the leading Hindi GEC, is beefing up its weekend primetime where it lags behind rival networks Sony Entertainment Television (Set), Colors and Zee TV.

The channel is launching two one-hour fiction shows at the 8 and 9 pm band from 11 August.

?Teri Meri Love Stories? will occupy the 9 pm slot on Saturdays and Sundays, a time zone where Star Plus was airing repeats. It will compete with reality shows like ?Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa? (Colors), ?DID lil Masters? (Zee TV) and ?Indian Idol? (Set).

?Arjun? will replace ?Gumrah?, a Channel [V] property, to air at 8 pm. It will have to encounter Set?s crime-based property ?Adalat? that airs from 7.30-8.30 pm. Colors, on the other hand, telecasts special episodes of one of its fiction shows every Saturday. Meanwhile, Zee TV airs repeats at this slot.

?Teri Meri Love Stories? is a collection of "heartfelt" stories of people who surrender to the pressures of life and are letting love fade. Knocking on their inward eye, the realisation that comes with small incidents helps them rekindle love in their lives. Each story shown is a depiction of the re-discovery and re-colouring of fading love or a missed opportunity to find love in the chores of modern day existence.

?Arjun? is an action/crime investigation series that will see the lead character, Arjun, to solve crime-based cases. He, along with the Emergency Task Force Team, will aim to free the world from all crimes.

Produced by Four Lions Productions, Arjun is directed by Gorkhy.

Star Plus GM Nachiket Pantvaidya said, "We hope to get spikes from our weekend properties. We want to make the weekend fiction programmes more of a habit for the viewers. We aim to project ourselves as No. 1 in the weekend with the launch of ?Arjun?, ?Teri Meri Love Stories? and ?Lakhon Mein Ek?."

?Lakhon Mein ek?, which has replaced Aamir Khan?s Satyamev Jayate, features stories of real life people who rose above the ordinary through choices they made. The show features inspiring tales of courage that has the potential to change entrenched mindsets, the channel said.

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.