Awarapan - Emraan Hashmi (2007) - Connaught Road Central

As Shivam follows Reema and her friends for the first time, he drives his car along Connaught Road Central. This is the section where Pottinger Street joins, just before you drive into the underpass, although Shivam is taking the left lane to go up to Jardine House/Connaught Place.

Awarapan - Emraan Hashmi (2007) - The Regent Hotel, Tsim Sha Tsui

Next up is the 2007 Hindi film, Awaparan. It stars Emraan Hashmi as Shivam, the right hand man of an Indian businessman/gangster, Malik (Ashutosh Rana), who operates hotels in Hong Kong. Shivam is tasked with keeping tabs on Malik's girlfriend, Reema (Mrinalini Sharma), a victim of trafficking who has plans to esacpe back to Pakistan with her secret boyfriend.

Shivam spots them together and is tasked with killing them both, but Reema's personality reminds him of his dead girlfriend who was accidentally killed during a confrontation between Shivam and his girlfriend's father. It's complicated, but ultimately he betrays his loyalty to Malik and tries to help the couple in their escape attempt.

Wiki states that "some scenes" were shot in Hong Kong, but I would venture to say that a significant proportion of the film was shot here, with some Thailand (Bangkok and Pattaya I think), and supposedly Lahore thrown in for good measure. I think there are even some aerial views of New York that are being passed off as Hong Kong. All the locations have been merged into an amalgam of Hong Kong for the film, so places that are obviously distant (Bangkok and Hong Kong) are brought together for convenience in the film.

Sadly, the only copy I could find that was available was a 240p resolution upload on Youtube here, so the screencaps are poor quality, though not the worst I've ever used. I would have been tempted to show afew more of the general skyline views had the resolution been a bit better.

Anyway, the film kicks off with Reema being trafficked to some white dude in what looks like Pattaya (supposed to be Hong Kong), before switching to a view of our protagonist as he survey's his kingdom from atop of his hotel (in reality the then Intercontinental Hotel). In fact, this is the "Presidential Suite" at the hotel which is a duplex suite with rooftop private swimming pool.

It's a place we return to a few times throughout the movie - although given the cost of hiring the suite (US$100K+) they most likely filmed all those scenes in one day. 

Gen Y Cops - Edison Chen (2000) - Yiu Lian Dockyard, Tsing Yi

The cargo depot scenes were at least partially, if not wholly, shot at the Yiu Lian Dockyard on the south west side of Tsing Yi Island.

Gen Y Cops - Edison Chen (2000) - Tsuen Wan Plaza, Tsuen Wan

Tsuen Wan Plaza is the mall that Kurt runs into as he tries to escape being caught.

Gen Y Cops - Edison Chen (2000) - Wang Kwun Road, Kowloon Bay

The confrontation between the recently hacked and raging robot and the cops takes place at the junction between Wang Kwun Road and Lam Lok Street in Kowloon Bay. The building with the large columns is the Nam Fung Commercial Centre, and the building with the glass wall is called Enterprise Square. You can see the same location on this GoogleEarth link.

Gen Y Cops - Edison Chen (2000) - Aberdeen Harbour

Actually, before I forget, we will stay in Aberdeen for the sequence where the FBI catch up with Edison and all hell breaks loose. Props to Paul Rudd in this scene because the man goes and takes a full on head first dive into Aberdeen Harbour waters for this scene and seems to have survived. I know the water has cleared up a lot since the boat people were largely moved onto land, but still...

In the background of the top image you can see what was the Wild West Minetrain rollercoaster that was in Ocean Park until just a few years ago. I believe it was decommissioned in September 2021 as the theme park was in the process of modernising. However, it's so long since I went there I have no idea what it has been replaced by.

Paul Rudd's legs 😁

Gen Y Cops - Edison Chen (2000) - Jumbo Floating Restaurant, Aberdeen

Any footage of the Jumbo (or the other floating restaurants) is appreciated these days given what happened in 2022. This is where Edison first goes to meet with his friend Kurt. The pair have a paintball fight amongst the piers on the Shum Wan Drive side of the harbour.

Jumbo is also seen later in the film as Edison and Jane (Maggie Q) try to retrace Edison's footsteps to track down clues as to Kurt's whereabouts. Don't forget to go and listen to my RTHK podcast about the various international films the Jumbo has been in over the years.

Gen Y Cops - Edison Chen (2000) - Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Wanchai

The "Police Technology" exhibition is taking place at the HKECC, except it's not one that you will recognise because for some unknown reason the production has decided to use either CGI or a matte painting to make it look a bit more...funky?. Weird choice.

Gen Y Cops - Edison Chen (2000) - Hong Kong International Airport, Chek Lap Kok

The police go to the airport to welcome the FBI contingent and their robot.

Gen Y Cops - Edison Chen (2000) - Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, Wong Chuk Hang

The Police headquarters in this film is actually the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine in Wong Chuk Hang on the south side of the Aberdeen Tunnel.

Gen Y Cops - Edison Chen (2000) - former Lok On Pai Desalination Plant

We were only here a few months ago for Hacker, but this location is used twice in this film. The first time (top two images) is the location of the underground fight club where the pair pick up Edison, and the second time (lower four images) we go back to this location is when the cops go and try to capture Kurt and his gang.

Gen Y Cops - Edison Chen (2000) - Lantau Link

Here's one I was going to do years ago and then just forgot about (because it's not very good) but seeing as Paul Rudd (aka Ant Man) is in the cast with some very dodgy blonde highlights (we used to call them "streaks" when I was at school), then perhaps now is the time to roll this one out. The story is a follow up to Gen X Cops minus Nicholas Tse and with Edison Chen brought in as a replacement. He's not someone you see in films anymore thanks to his indiscretion that led to the Edison Chen photo scandal back in 2008. It was all over the news at the time and ended (at least for a while) quite a few careers. 

Anyway, in this movie the intrepid cops Match (Stephen Fung), Alien (Sam Lee) and...erm...Edison (Chen) join forces to track down a hacker who has taken over an FBI robot. Rudd plays one of the FBI agents, along with Maggie Q, sent to Hong Kong to ensure its demonstration at the "Hong Kong International Exhibition of Police Technology" goes according to plan. Spoiler alert, it doesn't.

The film's Hong Kong story starts with Match and Alien driving along the Tsing Ma Bridge in a borrowed Ferrari, on their way to try and meet up with an undercover cop, Edison. The first image below was taken on the Tsing Ma bridge section of the Lantau Link (between Tsing Yi and Ma Wan), but the middle image is of the Kap Shui Mun bridge section between Ma Wan and Lantau Island. The lower image was actually filmed as the car goes back the other way across the Tsing Ma Bridge.

The Yellow Muffler - Betty Ting Pei (1972) - Former Fire Brigade Dock, Tsim Sha Tsui

The stone pier where Pai-hung (Betty TP) is supposed to stunt-double for an actress and leap into the water was filmed at the old L-shaped govt pier near the old Fire Station. This pier has been seen before on the blog when it doubled for Hankow (now known as Hankou) in The Sand Pebbles. The Yellow Muffler scene was filmed at the right-angled part of the pier that makes up the L-shape.

The north edge of the pier has been incorporated in to the West Kowloon Reclamation, and the lower part of the L-shape was removed/remodelled. I don't think this part of the waterfront is open to the public due to its proximity to the China ferry pier and also due to the Fire Brigade seemingly still using it for their fireboat, but this image on GoogleEarth shows you what remains of the old structure (the right angle L-shape section was removed and replaced by a less acutely angled section. Look carefully at the image I linked to and you can see the granite blocks (on the pier edge by the concrete hut) that formed part of the original structure. That also happens to be where the right angled section of the pier started. There's a small semi-circle of bricks by there that marks where the turn was.

The Yellow Muffler - Betty Ting Pei (1972) - Ocean Terminal

This is where the girls see off (and welcome back) their father and youngest sister as the latter make their way to Taiwan by ship. It's been a while since I visited this place but I believe the area where the filming took place still looks more or less the same.

The Yellow Muffler - Betty Ting Pei (1972) - Shaws Movietown, Clearwater Bay

Continuing my wholesale appropriation of all the Shaw movies being posted to Youtube by Celestial Pictures (reminder), the next one I am looking at is The Yellow Muffler starring Betty Ting Pei. Proof, if you ever needed it, that she really wasn't a very good actress at all and just appears to have got through her career by pouting and fluttering her eyelashes.

The story revolves around three sisters who want to break into showbusiness but are held back by their ageing father who also happens to have his own magic show at a nightclub. He gets sacked (basically because he's a bit crap) and decides to go to Taiwan for work and expects his daughters to go with him, but they refuse and eventually only the youngest goes with him. The other two try to make a break on their own but bomb and are eventually offered help to get into the movie business. The film was shot in 1971 and released in January 1972. It does use a couple of outdoor locations but for many scenes it's quite obviously somewhere inside the Movietown complex.

As well as filling in for other locations, Movietown also features itself because of the girls trying to break into the movie industry, but in the film it has become "Golden Crown Studios". See below for some not so convincing matte glass paintwork effects.

Anyway, as with my old post for The Lady Hermit, I've tried to identify a few of the places we see with where they were located within the studio lot (I will try and do this with the old GH studio as well at some point). So it's time to break out my crayons again. The base image I am using is a b&w aerial image from 1982 courtesy of HKMaps.hk. Click on the image for a closer view.

Click to zoom in

The first spot is just after the girls leave the cinema and are walking home. This was shot at point A. I'm not sure what the building was though.

The next image is the glass painting effect I referred to earlier. It shows the real Movietown in the bottom part of the image (the gate and driveway and Shaw House) but for a weird reason has covered up the various warehouses on the hill with fake ones. The close ups were obviously filmed at the main gate (point B).

This building below is located at Point C on the main aerial image. If anyone knows what it was used for please feel free to comment. Those circular vents were quite distinctive and have cropped up in many Shaw films over the years.

Next up is this shot taken from the north side of the plot (point D). Note the previously mentioned building with the circular vents can be seen centre right, just behind Irene Chen's head.

The final bit of Movietown is when the father returns and is given a tour of the studios. The first image shows the covered walkway next to building the building at point E. The group then turn left (marked by the red arrow) and walk alongside the circular vent building at point F. 

Anyway, that's all I could see for now. If anything else pops up I'll be sure to add it.