I don’t know if you’ve had the chance to watch Deli Boys on Hulu yet, but the new crime comedy series from creator Abdullah Saeed debuted on the streamer on March 6 and it’s worth a visit to ABC Deli. The show centers on two coddled Pakistani-American brothers who unwittingly inherit the family’s real business after their father dies. The Dar brothers grew up in luxury thanks to their father’s enterprises, but had no idea he was secretly running a cocaine empire.
Asif Ali plays the uptight younger brother Mir, and Saagar Shaikh is Raj, the carefree, unpretentious elder Dar brother who has a fondness for cannabis and non-mainstream spiritual practices. Poorna Jagannathan (known for Never Have I Ever) stars alongside Ali and Shaikh as Lucky, a longtime family friend whom they affectionately call Auntie. Lucky is well-versed in corporate boardrooms, smuggling, handling firearms and looking out for her nephews, but she assumes the role of gangster mentor to the main characters. These deli boys are continuously dumbfounded, chaotic and learning how to take care of everything — and themselves — as they go.
Ahead of the show’s premiere (and after a binge session), I chatted with Shaikh, Ali and Jagannathan about their roles, South Asian culture and what it was like making the series. A transcript of our conversation is below, which is lightly edited for clarity.
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Q. Mir is a nerdy, approval-seeking, risk-averse character until his survival instincts kick in and help turn on his brainy powers. What was it like playing this character and is there anything about Mir you found annoying or endearing?
Ali: I find a lot of him annoying in the right way. I remember we were having fittings for wardrobe and I go, “All of these outfits need to piss me off.” And they really, really did. I mean, save for a few ones like a dream sequence where I wear this incredible suit. And then toward the end, the character kind of comes into his own and starts wearing stuff that’s a little bit less C-suite type, tech-bro type of stuff.
But, a lot of it was kind of annoying, but in a good way. That’s kind of the fun of playing the character. I wanted to play somebody who’s super anxious and worried because I think there’s a lot of comedy in that. I will say that growing up as the child of an immigrant, the idea of being worried about money — although I didn’t grow up worried about money the same way that my character is — that kind of thing, I kind of understood, being like, “What are we gonna do? What are we gonna do? This — We don’t have any money!” I don’t think that’s a unique feeling that people have, but I connected with that. But also the endearing part was that the character, and I feel like your character [gestures to Shaikh], was the same way; they still cared about family, and they still value that at the heart of the show and their relationship. So that really endeared me to the character.
Asif Ali as the suited-up Mir Dar, with Saagar Shaikh as the mostly carefree Raj.
Q. Raj is this big brother who’s sort of free-spirited. He’s a really good complement to Mir. Can you talk a little bit about what it took for you to get in character as this weed-loving, chakra-centered-person-turned-dealer and your hopes for Raj for season 2 if you get renewed?
Shaikh: Raj is so light-hearted and so carefree that it just took me letting go of problems. It just forced me to, as a human, realize nothing was that important. Just be chill. Time will heal everything. Time continues to move. Tomorrow is another day and so that’s kind of the mindset that I gave to Raj — just to be light and forget about problems. Problems don’t exist when you can smoke weed.
And for season 2, I would love for him to just get darker and grittier and kind of nasty. Just become a nasty girl! Mir is the kind of the guy that handles the drug part of the business, and I hope Raj will be the guy that handles the execution side of the business, like where he [Raj] becomes the hitman for the company.
Q. For this role as Auntie Lucky, you have a lot of stunts, action and hands-on violence, which is such a departure from some of your other roles, including as Devi’s mom. What did you find most appealing about this role as Lucky and Deli Boys as a whole?
Jagannathan: When I first read this script, it was just this dark, absurd, physical comedy and it’s a tone that I’m just very, very drawn to in general. But the role — I’ve never seen a fiercer South Asian woman ever portrayed on screen. And she’s just so enmeshed, like she needs to keep this family together but she also needs to keep this cocaine business together. So, the juxtaposition of that tension is just so hilarious to me, and she’ll do anything for the boys, but she also needs to keep her grip on this [drug] ring, and everything’s going out of control. And the fact that these two boys couldn’t be dumber does not help things at all.
Asif Ali as Mir and Poorna Jagannathan as Lucky, a gangster auntie in Deli Boys.
Q: Speaking of fierce, I have to acknowledge Auntie Lucky’s fashion sense. It is very elite. I think every character’s style says something about them — Raj, for sure, Mir as well. But do you think that Lucky’s style is meant to convey a message about who she is?
Yeah! Cailey Breneman, who’s the costume designer — the references she had up on her wall were these ’70s Bollywood actresses with big hair and big eyes: Parveen Babi and Zeenat Aman. And she had all these ’90s supermodels like Cindy Crawford and Linda Evangelista — that was her mood board. She just saw Lucky as a woman who wears way too much shoulder padding! She loves being feminine, but she knows she’s in a masculine world, and she just puts her armor on. It’s kind of mob wife aesthetic-y, except she is the mob and not the wife part. And her eyeshadow will always match her nails, always match her bag. Lucky’s just a little over the top. She’s super physical when it comes to her actions and her comedy. Because her outfits are a little big, I was also able to make her big in terms of the comedy as well as the physical comedy, and that was so much fun.
Stream every episode of Deli Boys season 1 on Hulu, and check out CNET’s other recommendations for what to watch on Hulu, Netflix and Max.
