The Tamesis
call it The Sopranos Impact: Over the past two decades, more tonally depressing crime dramas have appeared on our screens than I can count, despite the fact that HBO’s gangster series are nothing if not funny and creatively costumed. Worse, these knock-off shows, in addition to being more grim than they need to be, are often too visually dark for their own good. As a great tweet once said: LA men, stop being influencers! We need a gaffer!
Maybe that’s why Hulu deli boy This year has me very excited. The show, about a pair of spoiled Pakistani-American brothers who are forced to take over as the CEO of their father’s crime syndicate, doesn’t skimp on storyline, but it’s also a colorful explosion of family chaos, a thoughtful portrait of New York’s vibrant South Asian community, and the vehicle for some truly great styling — from Poorna Jagannathan’s lucky aunt and her gangster mom’s chic leopard print and fur jacket, to Gloria Steinem’s chic Steinem’s nostalgic-toned pilot, highlighting Amita Rao’s Nandika and her commitment to the Princess Mononoke cosplay.
although deli boy It misses no opportunity to delve into the divisions between religious and racial identities it depicts, and there’s no trace of preachiness or genuine curiosity about how the world—even the criminal underworld inhabited by its protagonists Mir and Raj—could be improved with more understanding.
“Obviously, in India and elsewhere, Muslims are severely oppressed, and in Pakistan, religious minorities — Hindus, Christians, Ismailis and Shias — are also oppressed. Oppressed on all fronts, right?” deli boy Founder Abdullah Said told Fashion March. “Man, you can call me a hippie if you want, but I just want us to all get along.”
