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As the intensity of this debate has tapered off over time, its given way to hindsight.
Give it a taste, says Mir, unscrewing the lid.
How these characters define themselves ethnically is incidental to the violent, high-stakes crime world theyre thrust into.
Theyre not forced, he explains.
Theyre not trying to justify their South Asian culture or rectify that culture with their American culture.
That shit is boring.
So my manager at the time was like, You should write something thats justyourvoice.
Thats whereDeli Boyscame from.
And, obviously, I think were all somewhere between those two types of reasoning.
We put together a pitch and then it got picked up by Fox 21, the studio.
But we still needed to create a pitch in concert with them and pitch it out to networks.
This was in 2022.
And they bought it!
At every step, this show really faced an uphill battle.
And what they meant was anything that had a South Asian or a Muslim in it.
Most executives are still white, you know?
Theyre not totally going to understand that theres a lot of nuance within South Asian or Muslim representation.
And I was like,What?
Its not at all!But were both Pakistani, so, I guess, fuck me.
Its not often that a script like this comes along with so many three-dimensional parts for South Asian actors.
Of course, thats difficult, because not everyone understands the differences.
Its a lot easier to just cast Indian actors to play Pakistani characters because theres a lot more available.
So we saw a billion tapes.
She was like, Everyone here is clearly putting their heart into this so much.
Honestly, the feeling I got wasI wish I could cast all of you.
I genuinely want all these people who have passion for what Im doing to take part in it.
So me, the other EPs, and everyone involved picked the two guys who were the best.
And they wereso much betterthan any of us could have imagined.
Writers seem to hate it when their stories are flattened into conversations about representation.
I think that also comes naturally because, to me, the heart of everything is the joke.
Im more focused on that, and other than that, Im just letting the characters exist.
Andthatswhere their emotional stories come in.
Theyre not trying to kindly their parents.
Theyre not trying to justify their South Asian culture or rectify that culture with their American culture.
That shit is boring.
It seems like theyre just able to pull from their Pakistani culture and American culture a la carte.
I consider myself a Muslim.
I dont practice diligently, and someone else might say, Youre not Muslim, but fuck that guy!
I am a Muslim.
This is my identity.
Theres over a billion of us.
We dont just fall into these simple categories.
Baba, for example, is a bombastic businessman, and bombast is a quality usually reserved exclusively forwhitebusinessmen.
Were not going to succeed if people are like, This dark-skinned persons being too wild.
But he doesnt give a fuck, right?
Hes not trying to appease anyone else.
But as Michelle Nader, our showrunner, has always said, Criminals dont think that theyre criminals!
Theyre just trying to do the best with whats in front of them.
A big part of the show is that they dont have to be model minorities.
Because why shouldanyof us?
Dadi died in America from nursing-home neglect!
Those values are very American.
When we talk about Dadi, thats obviously Babas mom.
For me, the money there is the joke.
But the thing is guilt is an entirely wasted emotion.
Were all eating shit, but at least you could live that life for us.
Its like an investment banker who goes to mindfulness retreats.
Earlier you brought up your wife, Alexandra Ruddy, who plays Agent Mercer on the show.
And shes so hot.
I cant believe that she married me.
Her boss,Tim Baltzscharacter Director Simpson, is a bit of an idiot.
Is that something you were thinking about when conceptualizing his character?Absolutely.
There is a pretty storied contention between Muslim Americans and the FBI, so were definitely in that sandbox.
And then everyones like, Oh, the FBI is a bunch of idiots!
And here, of course, theyre actually on the scent, right?
Chris Elliott plays a character who Im very proud of called Sergeant Angelo Testicola.
Hes a Philly PD cop who has an inferiority complex about the FBI.
And Poorna is good friends with Tan.
Initially, they were like, Maybe Tan can be Murderwala in episode three?
Im very proud we got to reveal that to the world.
Youve done a lot of work in the cannabis and drug-decriminalization space.
Cannabis is in the Ayurveda.
Cannabis is in our historical, cultural pharmacopeia.
And I think that breaking out of that mind-set is incredibly important.
And we dont have to!
This is a way in which Raj is very real.
I truly feel this stuff.
I do believe that were crazy to keep ourselves from the natural plant teachers.
And, yes, I use phrases like plant teachers!
