Awarapan - Emraan Hashmi (2007) - Cotton Tree Drive, Central

In our last post for this film, after dealing with Munna, Shivam wanders over to Cotton Tree Drive to nurse his wounds.  In the background of the top image is Fairmont House and the Central Barracks building (formerly Tamar). The next image down shows the now-demolished Murray Road carpark. Replaced only recently with a new monstrosity called "The Henderson". Other images showing various views towards the BOC Tower and Lippo Centre.

Awarapan - Emraan Hashmi (2007) - Star Ferry Car Park, Edinburgh Place

This place is currently sitting in death row awaiting execution. Built in 1957, it was part of the Star Ferry pier infrastructure that suddenly became orphaned when the pier was demolished in 2006. Sadly, I was in Hong Kong for that debacle and the subsequent porky pies trotted out the the then development secretary who assured everyone the pier's clock was to be preserved (it wasn't). Anyway, I'm pretty sure this will go soon if it hasn't already (you can tell I don't go to the Island much).

Anyway, we've seen this place on numerous occasions before now, including quite a few films shooting scenes on the open top floor.

In Awarapan, this is where Shivam is confronted by his arch enemy, Munna, Malik's spoilt son.

Awarapan - Emraan Hashmi (2007) - Queen's Road Central

Kabir, now in charge of Shivam's part of the business/responsibilities, has been tasked with tracking down Reema's boyfriend, Bilal, and tracks him down on Queen's Road Central next to the old Queen's Theatre. More or less the same location as in this post. He runs to Duddell Street when they finally catch up with him in the car.

Awarapan - Emraan Hashmi (2007) - Jumbo Floating Restaurant, Aberdeen

Shivam heads to the Jumbo, which in this film is a nightclub frequented (possibly run) by Rajan, Malik's brother. He goes to confront him about Reema's whereabouts.

Awarapan - Emraan Hashmi (2007) - Hong Kong Cemetery, Happy Valley

Shivam meets with his right hand man, Kabir (Shaad Randhawa), to explain why he can't kill Reema and her boyfriend. The meeting takes place at the Hong Kong cemetery with the Chapel of Resurrection in the background.

Awarapan - Emraan Hashmi (2007) - Nathan Road, Mongkok

Once again back on Nathan Road as Shivam continues his introspection. This time we are at the point where Soy Street used to intersect with Nathan Road, however, the junction has been pedestrianised and now a subway allows pedestrians to cross under the road here. Sadly, all the neon you can see in these images has been removed.

Awarapan - Emraan Hashmi (2007) - Queen's Road Central

The next shot shows Shivam crossing the road on Queen's Road Central at the top of Pedder Street.

Awarapan - Emraan Hashmi (2007) - Central Harbourfront

Shivam is torn between his loyalty for Malik and his sympathy for Reema, who reminds him very much of his dead girlfriend. So we get some introspection as he wanders around the harbour front by himself. The close up of Shivam was filmed on the walkway that connects the IFC to Pier 3.

Awarapan - Emraan Hashmi (2007) - Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

Back to Nathan Road as Shivam and Reema spend some time together as she explains her life situation. This sequence was shot at the TST end. The first shot you can see the Imperial Hotel and (part of) the Sheraton Hotel (far right) in the background, but by the time of the second image, they have moved up to the Kowloon Mosque just past the junction with Haiphong Road.

Awarapan - Emraan Hashmi (2007) - Lan Kwai Fong, Central

Malik's neglected son, Ronnie (Salil Acharya), catches up with Shivam at Lan Kwai Fong and the two get into a bit of a tussle. This was filmed in Lan Kwai Fong with the former, familiar sign for the 1997 bar above their heads. This place eventually closed in 2016. I never went there (not much of a LKF kind of person) but according to Openrice, it was on the ground floor of the Cosmos Building at 9-11 Lan Kwai Fong.

Awarapan - Emraan Hashmi (2007) - Nathan Road, Mongkok

Moving into the night (these songs go on for a long time) and the group of friends are still dancing away on top of an open top bus as it travels up Nathan Road. This is just past the junction with Dundas Street so at the back you can see the modern wide windows of Ko's House and on the left is Hang Lung Mansion, both located either side of the junction. On the right, the building with the clock is the Righteous Centre at 585 Nathan Road.

Awarapan - Emraan Hashmi (2007) - Hong Kong Park, Central

The musical number moves to Hong Kong Park as Reema is obviously in a happy mood because she is with all her good buddies. Shivam watches them from a discrete distance. Unfortunately I don't speak Hindi, so I can't say what the song is about (feel free to comment below if you do).

Awarapan - Emraan Hashmi (2007) - Statue Square, Central

Shivam follows Reema and her buddies to Statue Square where one of the film's musical numbers breaks out.

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. 

Flash Point - Donnie Yen (2007) - Nam Sang Wai, Yuen Long

The gang have taken Wilson and his girlfriend captive in a remote location and Ma takes the newly captured older brother (Ray Lui) to exchange hims for them. The remote location is of course the Nam Sang Wai wetlands just north of Yuen Long. This place has been used plenty in both local and overseas productions. I wonder how long it will stay this undeveloped though as developers on both sides of the border have been eyeing this area up for redevelopment for years. According to Dan Thomas' old (and sadly neglected) Hong Kong on Film blog, the old house was a proper relic and not just built for the movie. The last time Streetview was updated in this location was 2015 and the house was still standing, but quite a lot has happened in Hong Kong since then so there's no guarantee it's still there now. 

Flash Point - Donnie Yen (2007) - North Kowloon Magistracy, Shek Kip Mei

The elder brother (played by Ray Lui) is due in court at the North Kowloon Magistracy and it is also outside here where Ma decides to beat him up. This place was built in 1960 and is in a similar style to several other remaining magistracy buildings of the same era. It closed as a legal building in 2005 (hence why it could be used in the film) and was later part of the Govt's adaptive reuse project and leased to the Savannah College and Art & Design (SCAD) for several years. SCAD abruptly closed down in 2020 - just after the start of the pandemic - and pulled completely out of Hong Kong leaving quite a lot of students in the lurch. 

Anyway, the building is still standing, albeit now empty, and I'm not sure of any plans to lease it to a new user. I live not far from here in fact and walk past it most days, so the bottom image is one I snapped the other day.

The Magistracy, snapped by me July 2023