Deli Boys’ Poorna Jagannathan: Never Has She Ever Played a Villain Like This

For four seasons on Never Have I Ever, Poorna Jagannathan played widow and single mother Dr. Nalini Vishwakumar—and imbued the familiar strict Indian mom with nuance, vulnerability, and humor. The multigenerational comedy, created by Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher, was an instant hit. Now, in Deli Boys, created by Abdullah Saeed, Jagannathan plays Lucky, an auntie who is soon revealed to be the head of the family cocaine business.

When the family patriarch dies, Lucky must tell his naive sons, Raj and Mir, that behind the deli counter, and hidden deep in achar jars, lurks a multimillion-dollar drug ring. Jagannathan sheds her maternal side here to reveal a stone-cold killer auntie, with one-liners that would level any man. She’s the villain you can’t aid but fear and love. She’s Narcos’ Pablo Escobar if he was entertaining and could carry off a leather jumpsuit, stilettos, and three guns to boot. “Poorna’s such an exciting talent because she is just so modern and defies stereotypes,” says Kaling. “She’s playing moms and aunties with the same freshness as she is playing murderers, and always with the sophistication of a woman who sits front row during New York Fashion Week.”

Jagannathan sat down with Vanity Fair to chat about Deli Boys, Hugh Grant’s acting advice that almost ended her career before it began, and more. Deli Boys, hailed from Onyx Collective, is now streaming on Hulu.

Vanity Fair: In Deli Boys, you are a cocaine auntie murder queen. This role is truly kicking off your villain era. What is it about Lucky that makes her stand out?

Poorna Jagannathan: Abdullah Saeed wrote her as a man. He went to a Geena Davis talk, and they said, “Look at two characters in your script, male characters, and see if you can change them to women.” And so Lucky and Agent Mercer [who’s played Alexandra Ruddy] became women.

Lucky’s a woman in her early 50s. How does she defy stereotypes?

I’ve never seen a character like Lucky, let alone for a South Asian woman. Lucky is physically robust. It’s a bizarre role for me, because I’m eminent for not having upper-body strength. If there’s a bottle of water, I’m going to stay dehydrated, because I can’t open it. The pretzels in the airplane? Not happening. Lucky’s a woman in a male-dominated business. She’s with the Italian gangsters, Peruvian, Vietnamese, Indian—they’re all men. She’s very comfortable and intimidating.

She’s not a regular auntie. She’s a cold auntie.

She’s not a cold auntie! She’s a murderous auntie!

Were there any characters that you modeled Lucky after?

Growing up on Bond films, I never wanted to be James Bond. I never wanted to be his love interest. I was always fascinated by the villain character. I watched a lot of those. I watched Sopranos. I saw Barry, but I landed on Housewives of Orange County. I’m just watching them from a purely anthropological point of view.

How did Never Have I Ever change things for you? Mindy said that when they were casting, the only option they sent to the studio was you.

I didn’t know this until today! I have run away from power my entire life, because with power is responsibility. When I turned 50, it just descends upon you. I really found my voice on set. The tali and the ring that I wore are what I wear in real life. This was the first time that I was fully, completely, gloriously myself on the set. Mindy and Lang [Fisher] created a set where there were no boundaries.

You almost quit acting due to the stereotypical roles you kept being offered. Does this still happen?

It absolutely does happen to me. What I found fascinating in Deli Boys when I read it is that Lucky has a backstory. I’ve been so used to being in the back of a story. America has known a brown deli boy for 30 years now with Apu from The Simpsons. But we never stopped to ask what the backstory was, who the person behind the counter was. Always the punch line and never the plot line.

Are there any roles you turned down?

It was the one person of color role that was a recurring guest star, and it said, “She can be Latina, Black, Middle Eastern, East Asian, South Asian, Hispanic, or something else.” I was so deeply offended. It was slothful. I remember saying, “I will absolutely not audition for this.”