GOWRI MANICKAVASAGAM
The newest cartoon on Disney Junior has all the hallmarks one would expect from a children’s show — a smart, resourceful lead character, entertaining sidekicks, and a bright, colourful animated environment, filled with song and dance.
Debuting both in the United States and India on Friday, the cartoon incorporates the cultures of India and centres around Mira, a young girl who is named by the queen of fictional Jalpur as, yes, you guessed it, the royal detective.
In awe with her new character as Queen Shanti in Mira, Royal Detective, Freida is excited to come on a new-board of an amazingly well-curated series to entertain the kids. Queen Shanti is a strong character with strong leadership skills and abilities to balance respecting traditions and customs. Freida feels a strong personal connection with the character in terms of leadership qualities also possessed by her.
Freida shares that giving voice to a character is a long process and in the process, she happened to discover her connection with Queen Shanti. To explain this she says, “I think Queen Shanti and I have this one thing in common. We both like to lead and I think while I was voicing the character of Queen Shanti, I did embody those leadership qualities. So I feel the thing that I learned from her is to lead with grace and to come from a place of kindness”
In addition to Freida, the voice cast is comprised renowned South Asian actors like Kal Penn, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Hannah Simone, Jameela Jamil, Aparna Nancherla and Aasif Mandvi. Leela Ladnier stars as the voice of Mira.
The show will premiere in the U.S. on Friday, March 20 (11:00 a.m. EDT/PDT on Disney Channel and 7:00 p.m. EDT/PDT on Disney Junior). Disney Channel India will also host a joint premiere, to give a sneak-peek that same day, followed by the entire series premiering on Sunday, March 22.
