In a first of sorts, Disney has announced a new children’s show that’s inspired and based out of India. Titled Mira, Royal Detective - the animated series is set in Jaipur and will revolve around a girl called Mira, who is appointed as the royal detective of a kingdom after she saves the young prince’s life. The animated series is targeted at preschoolers.
According to a report in usatoday.com, Disney has roped in some biggies including Kal Penn and Freida Pinto to voice the characters in the series. The leading girl, Mira’s voice will be performed by Leela Ladnier while Kal Penn and Utkarsh Ambudkar of The Mindy Project fame will feature as the voices of a pair of mongoose sidekicks called Mikku and Chikku. Freida Pinto will be the voice of Queen Shanti. Other artistes include Asif Mandvi, Sarita Choudhury, Hannah Simone, Jameela Jamil and Aparna Nancherla.
A press release from Disney states that the adventure series will be aired worldwide in 2020. Apart from entertaining viewers, Mira, Royal Detective aims to encourage critical thinking and deductive reasoning amongst children. Also, since it’s set in India, can song and dance be far away? Each episode will include music and dance between two 11-minute stories.
“We are eager to introduce kids and their families to the rich, diverse cultures and customs of India through Mira, a young girl who looks at things with her own unique lens to gain different perspectives and help others in her community. We hope that she will encourage our audience to actively engage with the inspiring world around them and appreciate the little details that make life extraordinary,”Joe D’Ambrosia, Senior Vice President of Original Programming, Disney Junior
Some of the desi names behind the show include music composer Amritha Vaz. The cultural consultants on Mira, Royal Detective are Shagorika Ghosh of the IW Group, choreographer Nakul Dev Mahajan and music producer Deepak Ramapriyan.
(Source: usatoday.com, awn.com)
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