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Is Velma Indian in the new Scooby Doo spin-off? Explained

Is Velma Indian in the Scooby-Doo spin-off (Image via HBO Max)
Is Velma Indian in the Scooby-Doo spin-off (Image via HBO Max)

Velma, the animated spin-off of the Scooby Doo franchise, has received and continues to receive a lot of backlash from Scooby Doo fans who are critical of the show's writing, meta storytelling, bland humor, as well as race-swapping of not only the titular character, but also Shaggy (referred to as Norville in the show) and Daphne.

With an abysmal audience score of 6% and a critics' score of 47% on Rotten Tomatoes, the HBO Max show has not been well received by viewers. In Metacritic, the series has an overwhelming negative score of 0.5/10, and on iMDb it has a 1.5/10 rating.

The Scooby-Doo spin-off revolves around the titular character who tries to solve both the mystery of her mother's disappearance and the mystery of the murders of multiple teenage girls in her hometown.

Ever since the show's debut, the ethnicity of its titular character has been the topic of much debate, with many wondering whether Velma is Indian.


"Let's make her Indian in this series": Mindy Kaling confirms Velma's ethnicity

The titular character from Mindy Kaling's show (image via HBO Max)
The titular character from Mindy Kaling's show (image via HBO Max)

Velma is Indian in the new show. Her South Asian ethnicity is in tune with that of her voice actress Mindy Kaling, who is an Indian American. Moreover, lending further confirmation to the character being Indian are the names of her parents - Aman and Diya - both of which are names of Indian origin.

Mindy Kaling addressed her decision to make the titular character Indian when she and show creator Charlie Grandy spoke to Entertainment Weekly in New York. She said:

"We knew it would be fun for me to play Velma, but we had a conversation where Velma is white, and we have this new choice to do the show and if I'm voicing her, should she be white or should she not?"

She added that the critically acclaimed animated superhero film, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, inspired her to make the character Indian:

"We were really inspired by Into the Spider-Verse — it's animation, we can do anything. The essence of Velma is not necessarily tied to her whiteness. And I identify so much as her character, and I think so many people do, so it's like, yeah, let's make her Indian in this series."

However, Mindy Kaling's decision to make the character Indian was met with criticism from several fans.

Mindy Kaling created a new Scooby Doo reboot called Velma, where Velma is Indian and didn’t call it Welma?Are the villains Indian too?“Wait a minute! This isn’t Dracula!”(pulls mask off)“Mister Pekkumootil!”
The way Velma is Indian… twitter.com/sugrbabi18/sta… https://t.co/Tnu76RNImr
@Tails420115 @EnatorLol the reason why Velma sucks is that Mindy Kaling (voice actress for Velma) is portraying herself in the show. The reason why Velma is a Black Indian who hates African-African men and loves white men is that Mindy Kaling is these things. I hate Wokeness!

While the titular character's ethnicity sparked backlash from fans, several netizens did not have any issues with the character being Indian. Instead, they pointed out other problems in the show.

I hate Velma don't get me wrong but I feel like people are hating it for the wrong reasons. There is literally nothing wrong with Velma being Indian in the show and I think the design is cute. It's literally just. Everything else
I’m glad that Velma is Indian ! But they change her personality into a bad one. Like she is making fun of someone who confess to her…It’s sad that they represent Indian people with this kind of personality twitter.com/tomywarlock/st…
@MechaBaragon people just want to be seen and have something or someone to identify with, someone who is a reflection of themselves.velma being indian-american is not a problem, i am fine with the concept. the problem is the way she acts and the way she treats everyone in a condescending—

Mindy Kaling had already sown the seeds for the backlash she would receive when she made a comment at the Warner Bros. Discovery Upfront Presentation in New York City on May 2022, which angered Scooby Doo fans. At the presentation, Kaling told the crowd:

"Hopefully you noticed my Velma is South Asian. If people freak out about that, I don’t care."

In an interview with Seth Meyers on his show, Kaling addressed the backlash she was receiving, saying how she could not understand why people couldn't accept her take on the character:

"I just couldn't understand how people couldn't imagine a really smart, nerdy girl with terrible eyesight, and who loved to solve mysteries, could be Indian."
Shaggy after watching ‘VELMA’ on HBO Max… https://t.co/m5AbRDOYkI

It remains to be seen whether Velma will get better or not in the eyes of audiences as it has five more episodes left to conclude its first season.

According to Screenrant, the show has been renewed for a second season despite the online backlash and hate it is receiving.

Edited by Upasya Bhowal
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