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... Dalam Botol shocks conservative politicians but is criticised by gay activists for negative ending

Boy meets boy. Boy falls in love with boy. Boy has a sex-change procedure in a misguided attempt to please his lover. Boy regrets his decision, moves back to hometown and falls in love with a girl.

The plot of … Dalam Botol (… In a Bottle), Malaysia's first feature film with gay lead characters, is causing a stir in the Muslim-majority country, where consensual sodomy is illegal and depictions of homosexuality in pop culture are taboo.

The film opens next Thursday, but has already provoked the ire of religious organisations. The youth wing leader of the conservative Pan-Malaysian Islamic party (Pas) called it a "shocking" attempt to promote gay culture.

Malaysia's censorship board advised the film's producer, Malaysian novelist Raja Azmi Raja Sulaiman, to cut a nude scene and drop the word Anu – the Malay word for...

It was way back in November 2008 that we first covered news of the upcoming big budget Malaysia epic The Chronicles of Merong. Even then we thought Malay movie execs were looking to follow in the footsteps of Thailand’s swathe of blockbuster historical/fantasy epics - including ‘King Naresuan’ and ‘Queen of Langkasuka’ - and now a first promo reel for the movie has arrived, it seems we were bang on the money. Merong will have huge war scenes, swashbuckling sea battles, and martial arts showdowns featuring a mixture of silat (Malay martial arts), kungfu and sword-figthing, choreographed by martial arts experts from the Jackie Chan team in Hong Kong. All this is being directed by Yusry Abdul Halim, backed by an international cast that includes Stephen Rahman Hughes, Gavin Rees StenHouse, mainland Chinese actress Jing Lusi, Craig Fong, Deborah Henry, Datuk Rahim Razali and Khir Rahman. Surprisingly the movies...

It was way back in November 2008 that we first covered news of the upcoming big budget Malaysia epic The Chronicles of Merong. Even then we thought Malay movie execs were looking to follow in the footsteps of Thailand’s swathe of blockbuster historical/fantasy epics - including ‘King Naresuan’ and ‘Queen of Langkasuka’ - and now a first promo reel for the movie has arrived, it seems we were bang on the money. Merong will have huge war scenes, swashbuckling sea battles, and martial arts showdowns featuring a mixture of silat (Malay martial arts), kungfu and sword-figthing, choreographed by martial arts experts from the Jackie Chan team in Hong Kong. All this is being directed by Yusry Abdul Halim, backed by an international cast that includes Stephen Rahman Hughes, Gavin Rees StenHouse, mainland Chinese actress Jeng Lu, Craig Fong, Deborah Henry, Datuk Rahim Razali and Khir Rahman. Surprisingly the movies...

It was way back in November 2008 that we first covered news of the upcoming big budget Malaysia epic The Chronicles of Merong. Even then we thought Malay movie execs were looking to follow in the footsteps of Thailand’s swathe of blockbuster historical/fantasy epics - including ‘King Naresuan’ and ‘Queen of Langkasuka’ - and now a first promo reel for the movie has arrived, it seems we were bang on the money. Merong will have huge war scenes, swashbuckling sea battles, and martial arts showdowns featuring a mixture of silat (Malay martial arts), kungfu and sword-figthing, choreographed by martial arts experts from the Jackie Chan team in Hong Kong. All this is being directed by Yusry Abdul Halim, backed by an international cast that includes Stephen Rahman Hughes, Gavin Rees StenHouse, mainland Chinese actress Jeng Lu, Craig Fong, Deborah Henry, Datuk Rahim Razali and Khir Rahman. Surprisingly the movies...