Kal Penn, Freida Pinto and Hannah Simone feel special to be a part of the cast in Mira, Royal Detective

Mira, Royal Detective, an upcoming animated mystery-adventure series for children inspired by Indian culture and customs. Slated to debut in March 2020, the show centres on Mira, who, along with her friend Prince Neel, creative cousin Priya and comical mongoose sidekicks Mikku and Chikku, set out on mystery-solving adventures that highlight and encourage deductive reasoning for young viewers.

The series highlights and showcases the diversity of the Indian culture but also brings together a host of ‘South Asian’ actors lending their voice to the charismatic characters. The rich Indian culture, music and dance play plays an integral part of the show. The values, morals and unity are beautifully showcased through each episode of two 11 minutes stories incorporating authentic food, fashion, language and art.

Kal Penn candidly speaks about his experience working with other South Asian artists. "It is really important and really special to be a part of a cast that’s all South Asian. This is not something I ever grew up with. I’m obviously very proud to be part of it because of that and also because it is a funny, hilarious and  smart educational show. I think at a time where we realize that in a globalized country or even society around the world people will have access to a show like this. That’s very special."

Freida talks about her love for the other artists as they worked together through the making of Mira. She says “I am so excited Jameela Jamil and her powerful voice is part of the show and Kal Penn, actors who paved the way for actors like me. Sarita Choudhury is just my favourite human and actor all around and so many more. And there are some newcomers as well on the show.  I think it's amazing. The fact that we're bringing that part of a South Asian culture with excitement and this urge to share it with the world, is what has actually brought us all to this project.”

Hannah Simone who is voicing the character of Pinky, speaks about how fascinating the script and theme of the show was for her. She says, “, I didn’t really see anyone in cartoons that looked like me or were attached to any part of my culture or heritage. So, when they told me that it has a South Asian cast and that the series is about this funny and intelligent cartoon character, would you like to be a part of it? I was like, yes, absolutely yes! Right after that, I got to read the scripts and I met the creative team behind Disney who were doing this project and it was just wonderful.”

MIRA, ROYAL DETECTIVE - Kal Penn and Utkarsh Ambudkar record the roles of mongooses Mikku and Chikku, respectively, for Disney Junior's upcoming animated series "Mira, Royal Detective." (Disney Junior/Lorenzo Bevilaqua)