"The Grandmaster" was a runaway winner at the Asian Film Awards in Macau on Thursday night, bagging seven major trophies including Best Film, Best Actress and Best Director.

The Chinese action-drama chronicled the life of kung-fu grandmaster Yip Man and how the discipline and socio-cultural duty attached to martial arts had shaped the core of his being as he embarked on a difficult journey from Foshan to Hong kong amid challenging times.

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Wong Kar-wai won as Best Director for the film which he also wrote, and which has proven to be his most commercially successful project yet.

Zhang Ziyi bagged the Best Actress trophy for her role as Gong Er in the same film.  

India's Irrfan Khan won as Best Actor for his much-acclaimed performance in the romantic-sensual film "The Lunchbox", which also bagged the Best Screenplay for screenwriter Ritesh Batra.

Malaysian actress Yeo Yann Yann won the Best Support Actress award for her role in the Singaporean entry, Ilo Ilo.

Korea's science-fiction flick "Snowpiercer" by director Bong Joon Ho garnered five nominations on awards night.

Twenty six films representing 13 countries competed in the Asian Film Awards which was held in Macau for the first time.

Seen at the red carpet event, the region's version of the Oscars, were Asia's top screen luminaries, including Carina Lau, Zhang Ziyi, Tsai Ming-liang and Paw Hee Ching.