Have You Seen ‘Deli Boys’?

Saagar Shaikh and Asif Ali in Deli Boys | Credit: Hulu

When their father dies, two rich Pakistani-American brothers learn the truth of their father’s success. With their luxurious life stripped from them, they are forced into the criminal aspects of their father’s business in order to survive.

This show is hilarious! It’s a great example of a fish-out-of-water storyline. These two brothers couldn’t be more different from each other, and both are ill-suited to the criminal world.

Mir (Asif Ali) is better suited for the corporate environment. He has been studying his whole life to be able to take over his father’s business. He has no experience in any criminal enterprise and must learn to adapt to this entirely different world. He also has to admit that his father—a great businessman he had revered—was not who he had appeared to be.

Raj (Saagar Shaikh) has lived most of his life mooching off of his father’s success. He is a self-proclaimed “vibes” guy and lives a very free-spirited life. He doesn’t appear to have a lot of skills to offer this enterprise, but over the course of the season, we learn that there’s more to him than meets the eye. Though his life has gone in a very different direction than Mir’s, he also has to let go of the image he had constructed of his father in order to survive.

These two brothers are completely out of their depth and are brilliantly contrasted with Lucky (Poorna Jagannathan) and Ahmad (Brian George), who are the obvious successors to this criminal organization. One of the many problems facing this group is that Lucky and Ahmad hate each other but are forced to work together simply to survive. Their rivalry and shared hatred make for some entertaining moments.

These four central characters constantly clash, often leading to escalating moments of tension and ridiculousness. This makes you want to keep watching.

Saagar Shaikh, Asif Ali, Brian George, and Poorna Jagannathan in Deli Boys | Credit: Hulu

Episodes of Deli Boys are short, a little over 20 minutes each, making this show an absolute breeze to get through. And not one minute of those short episodes is wasted. Each scene is filled with moments of humor that also push the plot forward. And as the story progresses, we are introduced to a new facet of the business or a new danger that Mir and Raj must overcome for their survival.

It’s exciting to learn more about this criminal underworld that is operating in our world. A Super Bowl party is actually a meeting of criminal enterprises in Philly. A wedding is an opportunity to further the business. A hotel reservation can be where a hostage is being held, and a deli can be a front for a drug business. It’s exciting to see what new facet of our world today is actually used in a completely different way by this criminal organization.

Deli Boys is such a fun show that fully embraces Pakistani-American culture. There are references to the experiences of immigrants and children of immigrants. Jokes are even made about the feud between Pakistanis and Indians and how different generations view that conflict. Pakistani music, food, and more are featured heavily in this show.

This show maintains an exceptional balance in making fun of both Pakistani and American culture while also celebrating the unique gift that immigrants bring to our country and communities. Plus, it’s a wildly entertaining show about two very different brothers just trying to survive in this world they are not accustomed to.

If you haven’t seen Deli Boys yet, I highly recommend it.