Asif Ali and Saagar Shaikh play brothers in the Onyx Collective comedy series “Deli Boys,” much to Shaikh’s relief. Speaking with Variety, Shaikh noted that he often found himself losing roles to Ali over the years given the lack of opportunities for South Asian actors in Hollywood.
“Usually when I audition for something, they there’s only one brown character,” Shaikh said. When Shaikh became aware of the “Deli Boys” pilot script, he auditioned for the role of Mir Dar. But then his reps broke some familiar news.
“I was waiting anxiously by the phone, and when I got the call, they were like, ‘So we have some news. They made an offer for Mir, and it’s not to you.’ And I was like, ‘Is it Asif Ali?'” It was. “He does it to me every time!'” Shaikh said with a laugh.
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Thankfully, the producers had another role in mind for Shaikh: Mir’s brother, Raj. The fact that both Ali and Shaikh could both star in the same show comes from the unique fact that “Deli Boys” features a mostly South Asian cast — a true rarity in the Hollywood landscape.
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While Ali views that in itself as an achievement, he said that is not the reason he and others from the show are so proud of it. “I think, overarchingly, it’s the fact that the show is really funny and it’s such a unique story,” he said. “It puts us in a world that we haven’t seen.”
The show focuses on brothers Mir (Ali) and Raj (Shaikh), two spoiled Pakistani-Americans who learn that their father’s business empire is actually a front for drug smuggling. The show was created by Abdullah Saeed, whose life as the son of a Pakistani family inspired the two main characters.
“Raj and Mir are actually two parts of his personality and upbringing split in half,” Ali said. “So Raj’s character is more of the weed smoking, rebellious, free wheeling…kind of deal. Then Mir is sort of the, ‘Oh my God, our parents worked so hard, so we should be overachieving, and we should be doing everything by the book in order to honor that sacrifice that our that our parents made.'”
Although, it turns out smoking weed can pay off sometimes. In an effort to land a role on the show, Shaikh connected with Saeed, who has a long resume in the cannabis space as a journalist. Shaikh said he showed up at Saeed’s door with “the most expensive blunt [he] could find” to discuss the role of Raj, which Saeed originally intended to play himself.
“He’s like, ‘I actually don’t smoke flower anymore, but we could do some dabs. Have you ever done it before?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah,'” Shaikh said. “I never had. And so I took a couple of dab rips, and oh my God, I was just somewhere else, man.”
Fortunately, it paid off, with Shaikh and Ali sharing an easy chemistry onscreen as brothers. And as their characters get pulled deeper into the criminal underworld, the comedy heightens in direct proportion to the violence.
“I definitely have never been on a show like this before where we get to kind of play both of those sides,” Ali said. “And I think what [the creative team] does that’s so great in the show is that they kind of build up these moments and then they’re able to break the tension with the comedy.”
“Deli Boys” debuts on Hulu on March 6.
