Double Dhamaal - Sanjay Dutt (2011) - Various Casino Signs, Macau

In Macau again and we are treated to some of the bright lights that front the casinos. The initial shot is of the Grand Lisboa but we also see some of the older Lisboa Hotel/Casino as well as the Rio and Pharaoh's Palace. We saw the Rio recently in Ballad of a Small Player. It's on Rua de Luis Gonzaga Gomes. My understanding (from TST Dave), is that most of the smaller "satellite" casinos, such as the Rio, have been forced to close due to recent changes in Macau's gambling laws. The hotel side of these businesses continue to operate. The Pharaoh's Palace Casino is located inside the Landmark Hotel on Fisherman's Wharf (there's a later post for that location).

View of the old/new Lisboas

Grand Lisboa

Rio

Pharaoh's Palace

Double Dhamaal - Sanjay Dutt (2011) - Central Piers, Hong Kong

Back to Hong Kong as the four discuss their plans to trick Kabir as they vent and fume at the public piers next to Central Piers. From the images it looks like they are standing next to Pier 9 with Pier 10 in the background.

Double Dhamaal - Sanjay Dutt (2011) - Galaxy Hotel, Cotai Strip

Kabir's casino looks suspiciously like the Galaxy Hotel on the Cotai Strip. This scene is an example of the merging of Hong Kong and Macau. In the film, the four conmen turn away from the harbour where they have just crawled out of the water and see Kabir arriving nearby in a stretch limousine. Of course, in reality the limousine was filmed pulling into the main entrance of the Galaxy, not in Hong Kong at all. This scene reminds me a little bit of Mr Hercules Against Karate which features a scene - supposedly in a single location - that was filmed at both Sydney Opera House and Hong Kong's Victoria Peak.

Double Dhamaal - Sanjay Dutt (2011) - Hong Kong Exhibition Centre, Wanchai

After jumping from the boat to escape the police, the four men reach the waterfront next to the Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Double Dhamaal - Sanjay Dutt (2011) - Victoria Harbour

This next movie, Double Dhamaal, is a Hindi language Indian comedy movie (and sequel to 2007's Dhamaal) about four conmen (played by Ritesh Deshmukh, Arshad Warsi, Aashish Chaudhary, and Javed Jaffrey) who try to con Kabir (Sanjay Dutt) out of his fortune. About half of the film appears to be set in India, but when Kabir absconds with some ill-gotten gains, he flees to Macau where he has just bought one of the casinos. "Macau" is a mixture of both Macau proper and a few shots in and around Hong Kong.

As an illustration, the first scene in "Macau" is actually Victoria Harbour where the four conmen are riding on a junk.

Kent Road Garden - Now and Then

The Kowloon Tong Estate is littered with small parks and rest areas and one of those quite familiar to me is Kent Road Garden. I spent a good few years living nearby and walking past here quite a lot on the way to Festival Walk.

You may remember a few months ago it was one of the locations seen in The Taxi Driver, so here are some modern day comparisons. You can't see it now because of the small tree in the way, but the circular canopy/pavilion is still in the park. It now has benches underneath it.

Most of the older, original houses of the Kowloon Tong Estate have long since been redeveloped along with their perimeter walls. It looks like the garden was much greener back in the 1970s. It's green now, but not green enough to cover the big ugly modern house in the background.

This image below may show one of the only remaining old walls. This wall belongs to #27 Kent Road, which is one of the original European-style villas that still survives virtually unchanged since it was first built - almost 100 years ago! 

No culpes al karma de lo que te pasa por gilipollas - Verónica Echegui (2016) - View over Wanchai

The last shot for this film, before the story returns to Spain, is this nice view across the Wanchai rooftops. The Hopewell Centre on the left and Central Plaza still dominating the skyline in this area.

No culpes al karma de lo que te pasa por gilipollas - Verónica Echegui (2016) - Harcourt Road, Central

Another footbridge, this time a bit further west, back towards Central, this is the footbridge that connects Harcourt Garden with Tim Mei Avenue and the CITIC Tower near Admiralty station. It's been a while since I was down here because much of the last ten years the place was closed as they constructed the East Rail line extension stations at Admiralty (yes, the old KCR blue line from Lo Wu now goes all the way into Admiralty).

No culpes al karma de lo que te pasa por gilipollas - Verónica Echegui (2016) - Gloucester Road, Wanchai

The last few posts are just general shots around the area. This one is of the pedestrian walkway across Gloucester Road where it intersects with O'Brien Road. A familiar walk for anyone who had to make the traipse to the Immigration Department when it was still based here (we've all had to make that walk on multiple occasions as immigrants into Hong Kong).

No culpes al karma de lo que te pasa por gilipollas - Verónica Echegui (2016) - Tsim Sha Tsui Waterfront

Sara decides to head back to Spain and bids farewell to her boyfriend on the Tsim Sha Tsui Waterfront.