Rajaraja - Conquerer Unparalleled!!!

The Greatest King of South India:

Well this is yet another back to back post by me, this is one topic which I am extremely keen to key in my views - Ancient History, especially Dravidian history, I feel there is a lot of hue and cry on Aryan History, the invasion theory and associated theories but much lesser attention towards Dravidian History and its vast significance in the current scheme of things.

RajaRaja is my favourite King, simply because of his volominous conquests and his vision to unite India at such an early phase in world history, the catch point being - all this amalgamation taking place from bottom to top(south to north), and not the other way as we have heard of on so many instances.

His Prestigious Conquests Encapsulate:

Kandalur Salai:
Significant highpoints: Destroying a Fleet in the port of Kandalur( present kerala ), this port is located in the dominions of the Chera King Bhaskara Ravi Varman Thiruvadi.Insciptions around Tanjavur show frequent references to this conquest. This war was waged mainly against the Pandya's and Chola's.

Invasion Of Lanka:

Mahinda V was the king of Sinhalas(Lankans) in 991 C.E. RajaRaja's fleet plundered Lanka, the famous copper - plate inscriptions show RajaRaja's powerful army crossing the Indian Ocean.A Mahinda gave up and absconded off to hill Rohana for refuge, Cholas occupied the entire northern half of Lanka and named the kingdom as ‘Mummudi Chola Mandalam’.

Moving Up North:

Before his 14th year c. 998 – 999 C.E., Rajaraja conquered Gangapadi and Nurambapadi, which formed part of the present Karnataka State. These wars were called the ganga wars and the territory occupied was called Ganga country.This success was aided by the sudden dissappearance of Rastrakutas in 973 C.E. as they were conquered by western Chalukyas.

From this point of conquest chalukyas became the main antagonists of the Cholas in the northwest.

To Be Continued.....

Rocky Balboa - The old Battery Fails to Re- Charge!!!
This is a post after a real long time, 6 months to be precise, thought of saving all the passion to blog , on one of the most awaited events of 2006.
Well Rocky Balboa did release in India in 2007 Jan.
The film in many senses gave me a notion as if Stallone was trying to shift his survivor sequel on to the big screen, to strengthen tailing popularity and obviously churn bucks; but it lacked fizz - big time.

Of the many characters who played in this flick -
I guess only stallone's brother in law - the joker lived up, and his son.
Everything else was an ironic duo of an aged yet amateurish drama.

Especially the way in which the reigning champion is portrayed, the guy looks more like a teenager straight out of the hip hop videos made in a back house studio. Compare him with Brooker - T of Rock III or Ivan Drago of Rocky IV, there's a mammoth divide.

About Stallone - I’m really not sure if stallone has doubled up for both direction and screenplay, he gives me the pretext of losing out on judging the pulse of the current clan of movie - goers.
The first part of the film starts of with an ultra brief intro to the world of rocky - this could have been vastly extended for about 15 minutes to bring back old memories and also rise the pulse among the audience.
His rival was just tagged on as an easy fight winner with no heart, 2 un-gripping fight glimpses were shown to justify this, the film could have done better skipping these worthless scenes.
Generally more zeal and energy could have been infused while introducing Rock's opponent.

The only strong point of the film was Rocky advising his son so as to lead a life of his own, that was ultimate, almost old rocky days rekindled, the scene was of the apt length and did strike a chord ( at least among my friend who saw the film).

The training sequel was a minute subset of the rocky IV training; Stallone could have as well removed the training song, especially when contrasted to the extensive Rocky IV training. Viewers can't help but compare, irrespective of Stallone's current age, hence the training could have been potrayed in a different perspective - as though comparing with previous trainings , and the current training gradually improving, to a level much beyond the realms of his current age.

By the time the big fight took place, the film had tailed off, although the fight was marginally good and watch able.

All in all a good film to watch - once, Im not kidding, but from Stallone, fans expect a great film , which can be watched virtually everyday - over and over again.