{"id":18264,"date":"2020-03-20T09:00:03","date_gmt":"2020-03-20T13:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev2.worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/worldscreen.com\/"},"modified":"2020-03-23T09:21:51","modified_gmt":"2020-03-23T13:21:51","slug":"culture-is-as-important-as-clues-in-mira-royal-detective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/culture-is-as-important-as-clues-in-mira-royal-detective\/","title":{"rendered":"Culture Is As Important As Clues in Mira, Royal Detective"},"content":{"rendered":"

Becca Topol, series developer and story editor, and Sascha Paladino, executive producer, talk to <\/em>TV Kids about what sets <\/em>Mira, Royal Detective apart and gives it its international appeal, as well as how its music can bring the whole family together.<\/em><\/p>\n

Inspired by the cultures and customs of India, the Disney Junior animated series Mira, Royal Detective<\/em>, grounded in authenticity and the empathy of its young protagonist, aims to inspire its viewers to broaden their perspectives while joining in on mysterious adventures and joyful dances.<\/p>\n

Set in the magical land of Jalpur, the series introduces a girl named Mira, a brave and resourceful commoner who the queen appoints to the post of royal detective. Topol was approached by Disney Junior several years ago to develop the series that would become Mira, Royal Detective<\/em>, a project that she was more than happy to take on. \u201cMira is such \"***Image***\"an aspirational role model for boys and girls,\u201d she says. \u201cI refer to her as small and mighty. She is so empathetic, she\u2019s smart. But there\u2019s one bigger thing that\u2019s really the core inspiration for the character: the idea of her paying attention and noticing things in the world\u2014sights, sounds, smells\u2014and how that informs her. I feel that today, for all of us, for kids as well as adults, the idea of paying attention to the world around us\u2014noticing things, noticing how people are feeling, seeing problems and then stepping in and helping\u2014is very aspirational and we all need that message.\u201d<\/p>\n

The global community consciousness is a part of what makes Mira, Royal Detective<\/em> a natural fit for audiences the world over. \u201cCreating universal themes that any kid or adult watching with a kid can relate to,\u201d was something that was considered early on, according to Paladino. \u201cAnd the whole idea of we\u2019re part of a community now, more than ever we\u2019re part of a global community, and showing how we reach out and support those around us. How do we notice things, how do we take care of other people?\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Topol and Paladino are happy to be able to say that Mira, Royal Detective<\/em>, with its strong, sleuthing female protagonist, appeals to boys as well as to girls. In addition to Mira\u2019s best friend being Prince Neel, a gadget guy equipped with spy gear and a knack for making useful inventions, there are also her amusing sidekicks Mikku and Chikku.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to me that the boys have a lot there too,\u201d says Paladino, who believes that Mira is no less relatable to boys just because she\u2019s a girl. He wants them to \u201csee Mira as someone who\u2019s like them, that gender isn\u2019t something that defines her. It\u2019s part of who she is, of course, but we have really fun, interesting boy characters as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have three sons, so it\u2019s really important for me to have them see characters on screen, female characters on screen who are strong leaders,\u201d he adds. \u201cIt\u2019s something, historically, we haven\u2019t seen a lot of but it is really important\u2014and to also see that boy characters are okay with that. That they don\u2019t always have to be the ones in command or in control, and that\u2019s kind of how it is with Mira and her friends. She\u2019s definitely the leader. But her friend Prince Neel is a very important member of the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even parents can relate to Mira and her journey, according to Topol, who personally finds the young detective\u2019s moxie aspirational. \u201cMira\u2019s like who I wish I had been at the age of 12 or 11,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s giving adults the ability to see themselves as kids again and recognize the crazy things that we all do. Also, in creating strong adult characters like Sahil, for example, Mira\u2019s dad, and the close father-daughter relationship, and her relationship with their aunt. You create different characters for everybody to relate to.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s the music and the accompanying dance numbers. With original songs in each episode and the help of Bollywood dancer and choreographer Nakul Dev Mahajan, Mira, Royal Detective<\/em> aims to get its young viewers\u2014and their parents\u2014off the couch to bust some moves.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The songs] are all influenced in some way by South Asian music,\u201d says Paladino. \u201cWe use as many live instruments as possible for authenticity and then Nakul choreographs moves for that dance with just himself and his assistant, and then he\u2019ll videotape those moves. Then our storyboard artists will draw those moves into our storyboards and copy them in as detailed a fashion as possible so that the moves are as accurate as possible. To me, that\u2019s something that parents and kids are really going to enjoy. My ultimate hope is that kids will love these dance moves so much that they\u2019ll grab their parents and pull them up off the couch and say, Dance with me!\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the original songs is Mira\u2019s signature song, \u201cWe\u2019re on the Case,\u201d which was a big discussion in the early stages of developing the series. \u201cWe wanted sort of a call-to-action, and there was another part of it that was introducing to kids, very simply, What does it mean to actually be on a case?\u201d says Topol. \u201cShe\u2019s got to have her magnifying glass, she\u2019s got to have her notebook. These were big discussions we had. The other thing was the joy. Getting a new case for Mira is the best thing in the world, so she\u2019s going to start dancing. It really expresses and exudes her spirit. Like, Oh my god, it\u2019s a case! We\u2019re going to start dancing!\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout the production, Disney provided support to the series that not only enabled the authentic and enlivening musical components, but also an enviable voice cast that includes the likes of Freida Pinto, Kal Penn, Jameela Jamil and Utkarsh Ambudkar.<\/p>\n

\u201cFreida Pinto and I had a few discussions and she\u2019s very invested in the empowerment of girls and women and works on issues like that,\u201d says Topol. \u201cShe truly is the perfect person to play the queen because the queen is a role model for Mira, her mentor. Kal Penn (Mikku), hilarious, utterly hilarious. He brought so much humor, along with Utkarsh (Chikku) and the way that the two play off of each other. As a writer, there is nothing more thrilling than writing for these incredible actors who are so talented. It really raises the bar for me and makes me up my game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The household-name South Asian actors, who expressed to Paladino that they wished that they had had a program like Mira, Royal Detective<\/em> growing up, also helped the show achieve its desired level of authenticity.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce they saw what our goals were for the show and, hopefully, that we were doing it in such a way that would advance those goals, they were really quick to jump on board and say, Hey I want to be a part of this,\u201d says Paladino. \u201cIt\u2019s been really exciting for us to feel like they\u2019re true partners on this show. They\u2019re not just coming into the studio and reading the lines we write and then leaving. They love talking about the show and giving us their thoughts. And we love it, we love them being creative collaborators on the show.\u201d<\/p>\n

This commitment to diving into South Asian culture with specificity and pairing that with universal themes is what makes the show tick, and what sets it apart from other quality kids\u2019 programs on air.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things that I am really excited about with Mira is how we\u2019ve been able to integrate all of these different things into one show,\u201d says Paladino. \u201cThere\u2019s the cultural aspect, there\u2019s the music, there\u2019s the dance, there\u2019s this never-before full South Asian voice cast. The fact that we\u2019ve been able to put all of these pieces together into one show is just really exciting. It feels like something that hasn\u2019t been done before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mira, Royal Detective<\/em> premieres in the U.S. today (March 20) on Disney Channel and Disney Junior. Disney Channel India will debut the series on March 22. Following its premiere in the U.S. and India, the series will roll out worldwide in an estimated 160 countries on Disney Channel and Disney Junior platforms globally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Becca Topol, series developer and story editor, and Sascha Paladino, executive producer, talk about what sets Mira, Royal Detective apart and gives it its international appeal, as well as how its music can bring the whole family together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1033,"featured_media":18265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,21],"tags":[111,112,4174],"class_list":["post-18264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-profiles","category-top-stories","tag-disney-channel","tag-disney-junior","tag-mira-royal-detective","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nCulture Is As Important As Clues in Mira, Royal Detective - TVKIDS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/culture-is-as-important-as-clues-in-mira-royal-detective\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Culture Is As Important As Clues in Mira, Royal Detective - TVKIDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Becca Topol, series developer and story editor, and Sascha Paladino, executive producer, talk about what sets Mira, Royal Detective apart and gives it its international appeal, as well as how its music can bring the whole family together.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/culture-is-as-important-as-clues-in-mira-royal-detective\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVKIDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-20T13:00:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-03-23T13:21:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/07\/2020-03-19-mira.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"336\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chelsea Regan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chelsea Regan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/culture-is-as-important-as-clues-in-mira-royal-detective\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/culture-is-as-important-as-clues-in-mira-royal-detective\/\",\"name\":\"Culture Is As Important As Clues in Mira, Royal Detective - TVKIDS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-20T13:00:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-03-23T13:21:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#\/schema\/person\/2a2c6d8fb3c7c8b4220b8877ecffb79a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/culture-is-as-important-as-clues-in-mira-royal-detective\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/culture-is-as-important-as-clues-in-mira-royal-detective\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/culture-is-as-important-as-clues-in-mira-royal-detective\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Culture Is As Important As Clues in Mira, Royal Detective\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/\",\"name\":\"TVKIDS\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#\/schema\/person\/2a2c6d8fb3c7c8b4220b8877ecffb79a\",\"name\":\"Chelsea Regan\",\"description\":\"Chelsea Regan is the managing editor of World Screen. 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