The Malay Chronicles: Bloodlines (aka Clash of Empires: The Battle for Asia in the United Kingdom) is a 2011 Malaysian epic action film loosely based on the late 18th or 19th century document Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa (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. Narrating the early history of the state of Kedah, it stars Stephen Rahman-Hughes as Merong Mahawangsa, who escorts Prince Marcus Carprenius of the Roman Empire to Langkasuka to marry Princess Meng Li Hua from the Han Dynasty of China, thus uniting the two powers of East and West. The film was produced and distributed by KRU Studios. 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 in the same year, including the category for Best Film. Plot The story begins with a mysterious man writing about the history of an old Malay kingdom so that people would not forget the history of the early Malay heroes. In 120 AD, the powerful Roman Empire, under the reign of Hadrian, had expanded its rule to the Central Asian countries. During their time of expanding, the great Roman Empire agreed to create an alliance with the Han Dynasty by marrying their two prince and princess, thus uniting the two powers both the East and West. However, the Roman prince, Marcus Carprenius (Gavin Stenhouse), did not agree with the decision. Instead, he wants to be free and not be controlled by politics. The Han princess, Meng Li Hua (Jing Lusi), also wants to be free instead being a pawn in a political game. The Roman fleet sails off from the coast of Arabia to the mysterious peninsula dividing the two great kingdoms. The Roman fleet is struck by a powerful storm, which causes the Romans to lose much of their fleet. They go instead to the coast of Goa. They are greeted by a local Goan dealer, (Mano Maniam), and later introduced to Merong Mahawangsa (Stephen Rahman-Hughes), said to be the descendant of Alexander the Great himself. Merong is preparing to duel against Sunder (Ravi Sunderlingam), a Goan nobleman who challenged him after finding out about Merong's illicit relationship with the nobleman's sister, Yasodharā (Deborah Henry). Merong defeats Sunder and Marcus is impressed by