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.
Asif Ali as the suited-up Mir Dar, with Saagar Shaikh as the mostly carefree Raj.
Disney/Elizabeth Sisson
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.
