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American comedy series Deli Boys is out now on Disney+.
Created by Abdullah Saeed, the 10-episode series, parallelly releasing on Hulu, tackles two Pakistani American brothers, Mir (Asif Ali) and Raj Dar (Saagar Shaikh), whose lives are turned upside down when they discover the secret criminal life of their convenience store-magnate father (Iqbal Theba) following his sudden death.
Abdullah said that instead of focusing on representing certain ethnic groups, he focused on the entertainment aspect, while also writing from his own environment.
“I was speaking from what I know, which is being one of a pair of Pakistani brothers,” he said.
“I wasn’t trying too hard with the representation stuff and I think that’s what really helped. It’s truly just entertainment. The by-product is that you get to learn about Pakistanis, Pakistani-Americans specifically.”
This is Abdullah’s first fully scripted creation. He previously has been a hip hop and electronic music journalist, composer and documentaries’ host.
“The thing I’ve learned as a screenwriter - and this didn’t happen to me as much when I was a journalist - is that you end up living the story of your script in some way,” he said.
“It really did feel to me like the boys embarked on essentially a career shift, a career opportunity where, like, okay now we’re dealing in this heightened and somewhat dangerously glamorised world that they’re in. They’re navigating it and every episode they learn something new.
“For me, as a first-time creator of a scripted show, it really was that process. I was looking to my fellow executive producers to really educate me and guide me. It was an incredible learning experience,” he added.
