The Last Samurai 

Let me clear it at the onset, I admire everything about Japan minus sushi, can't think of eating fish raw. I was introduced to japan by the book "The Way Of The Zen", reading about it i came to understand the Zen mind. The bare minimum requirement is a "still" mind which is only achieved by long and conscious effort to tame your mind [every book says thats the toughest thing in the world and hence only a few do it]. But Hinduism and Zen differs post this first step. In our culture once you have achieved stillness of the mind you are expected/encouraged to be religious but in medieval Japan or China this was not the case. Once you achieved stillness of mind you could really do wonders for the society and hence people were free to use this concentration and discipline to achieve goodness in any and everything. Hence you find a lot of titles like "Zen and the art of motorcycle repair" or "Zen and Archery" "Zen Garden" "Zen Painting" etc etc .....

Anyways coming back to the movie Tom Cruise kills a Samurai Warrior in battle and the Samurai lord captures him alive and puts him in captivity to learn the ways of the western warfare [guns and cannons]. Samurai lord puts him in the house of his sister whose husband was killed in battle by Tom Cruise. The way this subplot in the movie is handled really touches my soul. Ofcourse the lady of the house develops a soft corner for this foreigner [movie hai bhai]. But the way this is done totally nails it. There is no romance, but admiration and respect. As a storyteller i am interested in the way romance is tackled on celluloid.

The movie does well to exclude any moment of physical intimacy and that is why it is so great. At emotional level we have all experienced the feeling to extreme care and love for someone and that often is a driving force towards physical intimacy. This might not have a romantic tinge to it, for various reasons. This is the trickiest of all situations and I do intend to touch upon this subject in some of my films. 

Here is a plot . Say, there is lot of affection for a friend, this relationship has reached it's zenith.  Few Subplots will follow this plot line. It has either got to get romantic from here or it will decay. The last sentence has been used and abused by bollywood, the classic tale of best friends becoming soulmates. BUT, say you don't want this person as ur romantic half, for whatever reason, but you don't want the relationship to decay! Subplot 1 : Guy proposes[ i m a guy so my pov], girl disposes, reason "he doesn't, love me, it is just a momentary weakness, i know him well enough for it", here the relationship will fizzle out, because nobody accepts refusal, this subplot can further go on if the girl later sees this decaying and wants the guy back and hence "the three words". But the guy won't agree now, one because of his ego and second because he had long accepted the fate of this relationship and so now this has come too little too late. I hope the same story repeats when the genders are exchanged, meaning the girl uses "the three words" first and the guy denies it. Well ofcourse, different genders will react differently to the refusal.

Subplot 2: Both know this is as far as a platonic relationship will go and hence they need to up the ante, but both are mature enough to understand that the first line of action [forcing love on the other person] will not work. The only other option is a "friends for benefit"scenario but here it becomes tricky too .....how to go about it in a way that nobody gets hurt emotionally, most people will either come out of it as a pervert or easy, depending upon who makes the first move. The easiest scenario is to get drunk and let it happen. But what after this.

Subplot 2a) It can't be a one-time thing, can it truly be no strings attached ? If they haven't put a "label" on it some miscommunication will result vis a vis the possibility of any romantic interest for a 3rd party. This will result in jealousy and heart burn. Hence there will come a time when you will have to nudge yourself to fall in love or it will end, and this time with lot of heart burn and feelings of betrayal. This is the classic case of whoever blinks first loses.  

Subplot 2b) It's not a one time thing but both sides know the traps of 2a and hence they agree to discuss about it. I think this is only possible between same sex couples because a girl will expect the guy to understand it without her having to speak anything on this subject, in most cases she would prefer not to even acknowledge the sex thing in the morning, but that won't work beyond 2-3 times. The guy would want to talk everything about it so that the girl doesn't get any wrong picture and this will be a possible doom, if he does it after the first time.  Even if they do it, the choice of words will make or break the relationship and i m sure lot of people would have been in this scenario. 

So talking about it is too risky. 

2c) The only possible scenario in which this will end happy is either they both genuinely understand that they want each other badly enough and this is what love is [mast filmy happily ever after]. A popular movie plot line example "Friends for Benefit"

2d) The physical distance between them increases, may be a change of city or country, in this way they won't actively witness a third party entering their lives, and, can continue their affection whenever they meet [which will be too infrequent to discuss about] but here too, even if they romantically see a third person the chemistry between the two should remain the same, else it will end. This arrangement can cause some problem if the girl lets her "socially conditioned" mind question the sanctity of sleeping with two guys, loving one and liking the other....

Plot 3: They are in a platonic relationship and refuse to take it further, risking the decay, one person marries or falls for a 3rd person. But since there was no closure in the earlier case it will be an emotional roller-coaster [hum dil de chukay sanam] or the famous plot line of Gunaho k Devta [the most sold hindi novel].

The best thing would be to realize the truth "everything that has a beginning, has an end Neo" but then you won't have a story !!!! 

To tackle all the plot lines together can be achieved in the dramatic premise similar to "he is not that into you" 4 couples etc etc ..... don't know when ...but some day i will tackle this subject.

P.S. I don't proof read before posting a blog, you don't proof read your diary right!... So don't judge me on the form but on the content.