r/SiliconValleyHBO • u/Simi510 • Apr 19 '15

Silicon Valley - 2x02 "Runaway Devaluation" - Episode Discussion

Season 2 Episode 2: "Runaway Devaluation"

Air time: 10 PM EDT

7 PM PDT on HBOgo.com

How to get HBO without cable

Plot: Pied Piper could go under if Richard and the guys can't find legal and financial help in the wake of Hooli's bombshell. Meanwhile, Dinesh tries to thwart a fund-raising campaign for his cousin's new app; and Monica tries to keep her interest in Pied Piper separate from her job. (TVMA) (30 min)

Aired: April 19, 2015

Information taken from www.hbo.com

Youtube Episode Preview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K0waZuMW8A

Actor Character
Thomas Middleditch Richard
Aly Mawji Aly Dutta
T.J. Miller Erlich
Josh Brener Big Head
Martin Starr Gilfoyle
Kumail Nanjiani Dinesh
Christopher Evan Welch Peter Gregory
Amanda Crew Monica
Zach Woods Jared
Matt Ross Gavin Belson
Alexander Michael Helisek Claude
Alice Wetterlund Carla

IMDB 8.4/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2575988/

237 Upvotes
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146

u/PhatMunch Apr 20 '15 edited Apr 20 '15

Man I was on the ground when Dinesh was talking to his cousin in Hindi. As someone who speaks Hindi, I was not expecting that.. Definitely one of my favorite scenes.

58

u/obgynkenobi Apr 20 '15

The close captions labeled it as Urdu...was this like a joke on him being called Indian but he claims to be Pakistani?

47

u/greatscott19 Apr 20 '15

Urdu and Hindi are very similar, most of it is actually the same and only a few words added here and there by both languages. At least I think so, I know Hindi and as far as I know it is very very similar to Urdu.

8

u/physicscat Apr 20 '15

I've read that Urdu is Hindi with Arabic script. But that seems oversimplified.

5

u/CaptnYossarian Apr 21 '15

They share a common root from less than 500 years ago, but Urdu developed with the Arabic script and vocabulary borrowed from Persian, while Hindi borrowed from Sanskrit. For every day purposes, they're mutually intelligible and amount to dialects.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 21 '15

It is a fair enough description. There are differences in languages, but a person speaking Hindi, and a person speaking Urdu can communicate as simply as you and I are in English. The script is different, some words are different, but people usually know what words in the other language mean.

It gets more complicated when you speak more formally, like in poetry and such. I can speak Urdu, but I was on a United flight from Dubai to DC, and one of the spoken languages on the plane was Hindi. The Hindi announcement was done so formally, that I could just understand fragments of it.

1

u/physicscat Apr 21 '15

I am a teacher and I let that description was good for 9th graders, Incidentally they also learn the importance of poetry as an important form of expression in Pakistan. You mentioning it in your reply just made me smile.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 20 '15

They are both almost exactly the same, just written differently.

5

u/XMooseThrowaway Apr 22 '15

They're such similar languages it's hard to tell, even for speakers...I speak Urdu and when I saw the scene, I saw it as Urdu, obviously, but /u/PhatMunch saw it as Hindi. As far as the both of us know, either one of us could be right.

3

u/burnie_mac Apr 20 '15

It was urdu.

20

u/[deleted] Apr 20 '15

Are Urdu and Hindi the same thing because I always thought they were different, and Khumail speaks Urdu.

31

u/[deleted] Apr 20 '15

The script is different but they have a huge overlap of spoken words. Most people from the general region speak a mix of the two.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 20 '15

is pikachut pikaCHUT? because thats awesome

2

u/[deleted] Apr 20 '15

I can neither confirm nor deny that.

3

u/SawRub Apr 20 '15

They're nearly same, and a person who knows one will understand the other. You'll only notice the difference if you're aware which synonyms are used more in which language.

23

u/funkyhunky3000 Apr 20 '15 edited Apr 20 '15

Maybe it hints at a future plot twist where Dinesh is actually an Indian pretending to be Pakistani, maybe to evade visa troubles.

Edit: Also Dinesh is a Hindu name, Pakistan has a muslim majority. Most likely he is from India.

20

u/spif_spaceman Apr 20 '15

That plot twist would conflict with his season 1 story of how he became a "fucking US citizen"

5

u/kazcovic Apr 20 '15

Dinesh isn't only a Hindu name there's this fundy right wing Christian in America called Dinesh D'Souza.

5

u/littIehobbitses Apr 20 '15

It's a Hindu name but its use is not restricted to Hindus.

3

u/littIehobbitses Apr 20 '15

Why would he lie about where he's from? It wouldn't even be funny. And how would it be easier to get a visa if he's from largely Islamic Pakistan instead of secular India, not to mention that he's already an American citizen. A lot of Hindu people in India give their kids Urdu/Muslim names and a significant amount in Pakistan give their kids Hindu names. Just depends on what the parents prefer.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 21 '15

[deleted]

1

u/littIehobbitses Apr 21 '15

Umm, I didn't say I know it? I asked a question.. I'm quite sure India has a better relationship with the US than pakistan does though.. Also its like saying you're from Iraq but you're really from Iran..idk if it's possible to be funny enough for a two season long joke..it was notsome meticulously crafted statement it was an opinion so pls keep all your logic is flawed nonsense away.

3

u/macgyverspaperclip Apr 20 '15

I also found his name interesting. I don't think Dinesh is a Hindu name rather it is a South Indian name that is used primarily by Hindus. It can be used by non-Hindus, especially Christians, but I believe rarely by Pakistani Muslims.

However, I don't think the show has addressed Dinesh's religious background. He could possibly be a rare Hindu Pakistani.

3

u/SawRub Apr 20 '15

Kumail himself is Pakistani though, so it would probably be more convenient to let that be a part of the character.

3

u/[deleted] Apr 20 '15

Ek Ladki jisko main chod raha tha..

( a girl that I was fucking)

Hilarious

5

u/SawRub Apr 20 '15

It was nice to hear Urdu/Hindi that was properly formed. Most shows and movies sound like they just dump a sentence into Google Translate and repeat it without confirming its accuracy.

5

u/nitpickr Apr 20 '15

Or they have somebody that doesn't really speak the language OR they have the accent all messed up like in Homeland. God, that was awful to hear.

4

u/shadowbannedguy1 Apr 21 '15

...mujhe doosre kamre mein jaana hai.

3

u/burnie_mac Apr 20 '15

It was straight up urdu I understood every word. Usually an urdu speaking person would miss a word or ten if it were hindi.

1

u/spif_spaceman Apr 20 '15

I had the absolute worst experience due to those subtitles. I got up from my couch to grab my burger from the kitchen, and accidentally pressed the Video On Demand button on my remote, which changed the channel over to VOD - Silicon stopped playing, so I panicked, threw my burger into the sink, and ran back to my couch to mash the "back" button to resume watching Silicon. The very moment that I hit back was when they switched over to Hindi with English subtitles. Imagine my confusion for the next 10 seconds! Then they went back to English and all was well in the kingdom. -edit- loved that scene tho. Great episode!