''The Malay Chronicles: Bloodlines'' (also called ''Clash of Empires: The Battle for Asia'' in the United Kingdom) is a 2011

Malaysian Malaysian may refer to: * Something from or related to Malaysia, a country in Southeast Asia * Malaysian Malay, a dialect of Malay language spoken mainly in Malaysia * Malaysian people, people who are identified with the country of Malaysia regard ...

Malay-language epic adventure film loosely based on the late 18th or 19th century document

Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa ( Jawi: حكاية مروڠ مهاوڠسا ), alternatively spelt Hikayat Marong Mahawangsa and also known as the Kedah Annals, is a Malay literary work that gives a romantic account of the history and tales relating ...

(''Kedah Annals''), which is also its title as released in Malaysia (''Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa''). The film is directed, co-written, and co-produced by Yusry Abdul Halim. The film stars

Stephen Rahman-Hughes Stephen Rahman-Hughes (born 26 January 1970) is an English–Malaysian actor and singer. He is known for his roles as DCI Vikesh Dasari in the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'' and Adam Bateman in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. Career In ...

Merong Mahawangsa Merong Mahawangsa is a legendary warrior and a ruler who is said to be the first king of Langkasuka, or modern day Kedah. His tale is mentioned in the Kedah Annals, where it mentions him as a hero who became the first king of Langkasuka. The leg ...

, who escorts Prince Marcus Carprenius of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

Langkasuka Langkasuka was an ancient Hindu-Buddhist kingdom located in the Malay Peninsula. The name is Sanskrit in origin; it is thought to be a combination of ''langkha'' for "resplendent land" -'' sukkha'' for "bliss". The kingdom, along with Old K ...

to marry Princess Meng Li Hua from the

Han Dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...

of China, thus uniting the two powers of East and West. The film was produced and distributed by

KRU Studios KRU Studios is a Malaysian media and entertainment company. Founded in 1992, KRU Studios has since diversified and now provides a range of services related to the media and entertainment industry, specialising in both production and distributio ...

. The film was released to Malaysian cinemas nationwide beginning on 10 March 2011. The film won eight out of its 13 nominations in the 24th

Malaysia Film Festival Malaysia Film Festival (FFM; ms, Festival Filem Malaysia) is an accolade bestowed by the Malaysian ''Entertainment Journalists Association of Malaysia'' for the appreciation and honouring the products of film arts and artists. The formal cere ...

in the same year, including the category for Best Film.

Plot

In the second century AD, the powerful

has agreed to form an alliance with the

by marrying their prince and princess. However, the Roman Emperor's son Marcus Carprenius ( Gavin Stenhouse) opposes the decision as he will only be used as a pawn in the two countries' political schemes so he tries to sail away. The Chinese princess Meng Li Hua (

Jing Lusi Jing Lusi (Chinese: 陆思敬; born 16 May 1985) is a British actress. She is best known for her roles in ''Stan Lee's Lucky Man'', the 2018 hit film '' ''Crazy Rich Asians' and BAFTA nominated series '' ''Gangs of London'. On stage, Lus ...

) also wants to be free and does the same by fleeing to a mysterious peninsula with her handmaiden Ying Ying. After barely surviving a storm, the Roman fleet lands on the coast of

Western India Western India is a loosely defined region of India consisting of its western part. The Ministry of Home Affairs in its Western Zonal Council Administrative division includes the states of Goa, Gujarat, and Maharashtra along with the Union ...

. Upon arrival, Marcus and his entourage are greeted by a local dealer who introduces them to

(

), a smuggler who claims to be the descendant of the Greek king

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...

. After watching Merong fight and defeat Sunder, a nobleman who holds Merong responsible for having an affair with his

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...

, Marcus is impressed and he recruits Merong to guide him to the mysterious peninsula while admiral Lycius sails back to Rome to get new ships and reward to Merong for helping the prince. Merong and Marcus arrive in the peninsula where they meet the Chinese Admiral Liu Yun ( Craig Robert Fong). One night, Marcus meets Meng for the first time and they quickly fall in love as they discover that they both share the same goal of being free. The next morning, the Chinese and the Romans are attacked by a pirate tribe called Garuda led by a sorcerer named Taji ( Wan Hanafi Su). Meng and Ying Ying are kidnapped by the Garuda while Marcus tries in vain to save them. Heavily outnumbered, the Chinese and the Romans are defeated. Enraged by Marcus' apparent death, Merong kills most of the Garuda fighters before he is knocked out. Merong is nursed back to health by a tribal leader named Kesum (

Rahim Razali Dato' Haji Abdul Rahim bin Mohd Razali (born 3 July 1939), better known by his stage name Rahim Razali, is a Malaysian actor, director, producer and sports commentator. Life and career English school at Anderson Ipoh High School, Anderson ...

) and Embok ( :ms:Ummi NazeeraUmmi Nazeera). Merong learns from Kesum that he and Taji were once students to a great warrior mage who wore an amulet of immortality. Desiring the amulet, Taji betrayed and killed the mage, and then he led a small band of pirates to raid the villages. Among Taji's victims were Merong's mother Lang ( Umie Aida) and Embok herself. Merong also learns of a prophecy that a great warrior will unite all the peninsula's tribes into one kingdom to defeat their enemies. Merong then becomes Kesum's student and begins uniting the tribes, fulfilling the prophecy in the process. In the Garuda's island, Meng and Ying Ying are held captives by Taji and his pirates. During their attempt to escape, Meng and Ying Ying manage to steal the amulet of immortality. Meanwhile, after uniting all the tribes, Merong creates the kingdom of

. Merong then reunites with Liu Yun, a recovering Marcus, and a small group of Chinese soldiers. Together, they set off to rescue Meng and Ying Ying from the Garuda. Before launching the attack, Embok confesses her love for Merong. The next morning, Merong and his army begin their attack on the Garuda. Though heavily outnumbered, Merong sets all the Garuda ships on fire using a ship loaded with mirrors to reflect the sunlight. Taji then uses sorcery to unleash a powerful storm that covers the sun, rendering the weapon useless. Merong and his army fight the Garuda on the beach during which Liu Yun sacrifices himself to save Marcus. As the Garuda surround Merong's army, the Sino-Roman armada led by Lycius arrives and turns the tide, routing the Garuda in the process. As the battle ends in a Sino-Roman victory, Merong kills Taji in a fierce duel but at the cost of his life. Many years after the great battle, Sultan Mudzafar Shah, the first Sultan of Kedah, chronicles the history of Merong Mahawangsa in the Kedah Annals to honor his memory and heroic deeds.

Cast

The Roman delegation

* Gavin Stenhouse as Marcus Carprenius, Prince of the

. * Eric Karl Henrik Norman as Lycius, Admiral of Rome.

The Chinese delegation

as Meng Li Hua, Princess of the

. *

Craig Fong Craig Robert Fong is an Australian actor. Early life and education Fong was born in Carnarvon, Western Australia and grew up in a fairly isolated outback environment. At the age of 15 he moved to Perth to continue his studies at Rossmoyne Se ...

as Liu Yun, Admiral of China. * Nell Ng as Ying Ying, Meng Li Hua's close and personal friend * Keith Chong as the

Emperor of China ''Huangdi'' (), translated into English as Emperor, was the superlative title held by monarchs of China who ruled various imperial regimes in Chinese history. In traditional Chinese political theory, the emperor was considered the Son of Heav ...

Pirates of Garuda

The

Garuda Garuda (Sanskrit: ; Pāli: ; Vedic Sanskrit: गरुळ Garuḷa) is a Hindu demigod and divine creature mentioned in the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain faiths. He is primarily depicted as the mount (''vahana'') of the Hindu god Vishnu. Garuda ...

in the original tale is depicted as a gigantic bird-like creature whereas the film''—''due to limitations of the technology needed to recreate the bird''—''instead portrays it as a different entity, particularly a pirate tribe nation with its own island. * Wan Hanafi Su as Taji, The leader of the pirate clan of Geruda. (The name Taji, meaning 'spur' or 'talon' in Malay, alludes to the Garuda.) * Khir Rahman as Kamawas, Taji's student who kidnaps Princess Meng Li Hua. (His name is derived from the word ''mawas'' or 'ape', an allusion to

Hanuman Hanuman (; sa, हनुमान, ), also called Anjaneya (), is a Hindu god and a divine '' vanara'' companion of the god Rama. Hanuman is one of the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He is an ardent devotee of Rama and on ...

The village people

as Kesum, a Malay medicine man who knew Merong since he was young. * Ummi Nazeera as Embok, a nurse and also Merong's lover.

Other characters

* Hafizuddin Fadzil as Sultan Mudzafar Shah or Phra Ong Mahawangsa, the narrator of the story. * Mano Maniam as the local Goan dealer. * Ravi Sunderlingam as Sunder, the Goan warrior. *

Deborah Priya Henry Deborah Priya Henry (born 21 July 1985), also known as Priya Emmanuel, is a Malaysian TV Host of Indian and Irish descent and a former model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Universe Malaysia 2011 but did not make it to the ...

as Yasodharā, the wife of

Siddhārtha Gautama Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...

. * Jehan Miskin as Embi, the Malay warrior. * Umie Aida as Lang, Merong Mahawangsa's mother as seen from a flashback *

Maya Karin Maya Karin Roelcke (born 29 October 1979) is a Malaysian film actress, television host and singer, known for '' Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam'', '' Anak Halal'', '' Ombak Rindu'' and '' Munafik 2''. She holds the Malaysia Film Festival record ...

as Goan Villager

Production

Music

The film's music score was initially composed by Reza Ramsey and Yudi Ashady before they undergo re-arrangements to be played by the

Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO; ms, Orkestra Filharmonik Malaysia) is a Malaysian orchestra based in Kuala Lumpur. The orchestra is resident at the Petronas Philharmonic Hall (Dewan Filharmonik Petronas). It is one of Asia's leading ...

under the direction of

Claus Peter Flor Claus Peter Flor (born 16 March 1953, Leipzig) is a German conductor. Flor studied violin and clarinet at the Robert Schumann Conservatory in Zwickau. He continued his music studies at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Weimar and the HMT Felix ...

Anuar Zain Shahrul Anuar Zain (born 15 February 1970) is a Malaysian singer and artist. He has had five albums released, all of which have been named after him. The first album was released in 1998, consisting of 10 songs. His first single after a hiatu ...

sings the theme song for the film, titled "Sedetik Lebih", which was composed by Edry Abdul Halim.

Release

The first official trailer was released in October 2010. The production was completed several months later.

later announced that the film would be screened in the cinemas on 11 March 2011. This film was shown for the first time during a royal audience with the Sultan of Kedah, Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah and his family on 25 February 2011 prior to a nationwide release in March of the same year. A 30-minute making-of programme was broadcast on Malaysian TV station TV3 as part of the promotion, showing various elements of the production behind the scenes and also exclusive interviews with the cast and the crew. The film was later made available in the on-demand service Astro First on 21 April 2011. The DVD was also released on the same day. It was eventually released on the Blu-ray format in the United Kingdom on 23 May, becoming the first Malaysian made feature film to do so. After its release in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

and

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by t ...

; the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

was the next country to screen the film. The film was released there under the title ''Clash of Empires: Battle for Asia''.

Home media

Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa was released in the

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

format on 21 April 2011 in Malaysia. In the

, the film has been released on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

and DVD under the title ''Clash of Empires: Battle for Asia'' on 23 May 2011. Its British release makes it the second Malaysian film to be released on Blu-ray after Ice Kacang Puppy Love which was released in Hong Kong.

Reception

Box office

Following its Malaysian release, the film grossed MYR 6.3 million at the box-office KRU Studios surpasses initial target from 'Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa' movie
Retrieved 11 April 2011. (only in Malaysia) by the end of March 2011, making the film the most successful local epic film.

References

External links

*
The Malay Chronicles: Bloodlines
' at the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malay Chronicles: Bloodlines 2011 films Malay-language films 2010s action adventure films KRU Studios films English-language Malaysian films Chinese-language Malaysian films Films set in the 16th century Historical epic films 2010s historical films Malaysian action films Malaysian historical films History of Malaysia on film