Disney Junior’s newest animated series, Mira, Royal Detective, premieres Friday, March 20th, and we got an early look at the series, which recently had a grand premiere at the Walt Disney Studios. Disney’s first animated series inspired by Indian culture, the show celebrates the music, architecture, fashion, and foods of the South Asian country. In the same way that Elena of Avalor celebrates latino cultures, Mira, Royal Detective brings Indian culture to the preschool-aged masses.
The series follows Mira, a young girl who has been hired as the official detective of the royal family in her fictional city of Jalpur. She is assisted by animal sidekicks Mikku and Chikku, who are wisecracking mongooses, and her human friends Prince Neel and cousin Priya. Together, they will solve any case, big or small, to help the local citizens.
Like most Disney Junior shows, music plays a big role in Mira, Royal Detective. The fun begins with a catchy Bollywood-style theme song.
A lot of Disney Junior shows also have a song that kickstarts that episode’s adventure. For example, Puppy Dog Pals has “Going on a Mission” and T.O.T.S. has “Bringing This Baby Home.” In Mira, Royal Detective, each case starts with a song called “We’re on the Case.”
In addition, each episode has an original song unique to that story. Another commonality for Disney Junior programming is for each 21-minute episode to be split into two 10-minute stories, which is the case with Mira, Royal Detective. The premiere episode is called “The Mystery of the Royal Scarf/The Case of the Missing Bicycle.”
In the first part, Queen Shanti is on her way to Priya’s shop to pick up a gold scarf she had made for her, but Priya needs Mira’s help because it’s gone missing. Mikku and Chikku cause a distraction to slow down Queen Shanti’s arrival while Mira, Priya, and Prince Neel work together to find out what happened to the missing gold scarf and get it back in time for the Queen’s arrival.
In “The Case of the Missing Bicycle,” Mira is babysitting Chotu when her friend Kamla realizes her green bike with a lotus flower on it has gone missing. Mira’s babysitting task turns into a muddy adventure through Jalpur that requires her to think outside the box.
In addition to visual Indian influences like the clothing, colors, jewelry, and architecture of the series, kids will also learn about the foods of India through the show. In one scene, a friend of Mira’s explains that she was at a cafe drinking a mango lassi. In another moment, one of her friends uses the exclamation “Soggy samosas.” There are also unique elements of the religions of India, with Mira working with two boys who work at a bike shop wearing a Sikh patka.
Kids will love Mira and her friends in Disney Junior’s newest preschool series, Mira, Royal Detective. It’s fun, colorful, musical, educational, and most importantly, fun. Disney Junior is celebrating their new show with a special 2-episode premiere on Friday, March 20th, in the US and India.
I give Mira, Royal Detective 5 out of 5 “Soggy samosas.”