A lone SUV driving across the dusty road late at night on a sunny summer day in Iceland

The Gerua Crowd : Bollywood takes over Iceland

A lone SUV driving across the dusty road late at night on a sunny summer day in Iceland
A lone SUV driving across the dusty road late at night on a sunny summer day in Iceland

It has been said that Bollywood has done more for world wide tourism than any tourist magazine. Needless to say, this was a widely held view by the 2+ Billion Earthlings that can’t escape Bollywood, and also a view held well before the age of the Insta-travel madness. 

The vast emptiness and retina-shattering sunsets of the south eastern part of Iceland
The vast emptiness and retina-shattering sunsets of the south eastern part of Iceland

But as we flipped channels mid-flight over our 8 hour, extremely bumpy flight to Reykjavik, we came across a very familiar sight. Mr. Shahrukh Khan himself, half submerged with his Prada boots into the shallow mirrorlike tide in front of the Vestrahorn. A few seconds later, there is Kajol, a vibrant black and red streak of cloth billowing above the crash-landed DC-17, which, by the way, is a big no-no if you ask the locals, or use common sense. 

Iceberg remnants, lodged as diamonds over the black sand volcanic beach known as Diamond Beach
Iceberg remnants, lodged as diamonds over the black sand volcanic beach known as Diamond Beach

The song – Gerua – had been shot completely in Iceland, and is a spectacular tourist guide to the sights of the country like no other you may have seen. Polished, and re-polished in Photoshop, the glaciers take on an azure hue minus any glacial dust, as if they have been carefully grown in a laboratory. 

Midnight sun piercing through the tall crevices of Fjallsárlón in southern Iceland
Midnight sun piercing through the tall crevices of Fjallsárlón in southern Iceland

Don’t take my word for it. The song and the Behind the Scenes from the song were being shown as part of an official tourist video aboard the Iceland Air flight to Reykjavik, and bears testament to the impact of Indians on the Icelandic tourist economy.

Glaciers that you could almost touch from the Ring Road, in Iceland, after midnight
Glaciers that you could almost touch from the Ring Road, in Iceland, after midnight

The surprising thing though? Season after season of Game of Thrones was filmed in Iceland. And not a single homage to GoT on any promotional video. As an aside, the other surprising thing for me: Not many people still listen to Bjork or Sigur Ros. It was the same uniform American pop everywhere. 

Breaking icebergs from the Jokulsarlon, which was followed by loud thunder, which was followed by a mini tsunami, prompting our boat-guide to say - Thank goodness we weren't closer.
Breaking icebergs from the Jokulsarlon, which was followed by loud thunder, which was followed by a mini tsunami, prompting our boat-guide to say – Thank goodness we weren’t closer.

There have been a ton of movies that have been filmed in Iceland in the recent past. A lot of the blockbusters. Scenes that represented other planets – real and fake, to countries as diverse as Japan and Afghanistan. But, the movies that were constantly mentioned to us in Iceland were – The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and you guessed it, Dilwale (for Gerua). 

Icebergs floating in the Jokulsarlon lagoon. These icebergs float out to the North Atlantic only a few hundred meters away and some get lodged on the black sand beach known as Diamond Beach.
Icebergs floating in the Jokulsarlon lagoon. These icebergs float out to the North Atlantic only a few hundred meters away and some get lodged on the black sand beach known as Diamond Beach.

So it was completely natural to find scores of Indians at some of the spots from the video, and also natural for us to ask – how the hell did they do it? Like SK and Kajol teetering precipitously from the egde of the Skogafoss waterfall. Or where SK almost fell 200 feet down from behind Seljalandsfoss.

Fine black sand and their ripples made bu gusty wind in front of the Vestrahorn mountain. During high tide, the entire region is submerged in a shallow reflecting pool.
Fine black sand and their ripples made bu gusty wind in front of the Vestrahorn mountain. During high tide, the entire region is submerged in a shallow reflecting pool.

Or when, near Vestrahorn, the choreographer, Farah Khan, spontaneously bursts out saying, and I paraphrase – “Which *&^$*^$ told us that summer would be a great time to visit Iceland?!” All this while, SK and Kajol standing still in the freezing pool of icy North Atlantic waters while a drone encircles them.

A lonely traveler cutting across the vast emptiness of South East of Iceland
A lonely traveler cutting across the vast emptiness of South East of Iceland

But just like the White Walkers, the Gerua crowd was primarily concentrated around the South Central regions, dissipating rapidly by the time we reached Jokulsarlon and the Diamond Beach. By the time we reached the &^*%&^-freezing Vestrahorn, very few tourists were to be found. 

The deep crevices of Jokulsarlon, up close and personal
The deep crevices of Jokulsarlon, up close and personal

We had entire hours of driving left to us in peace and solitude. No towns, no cars, no people, no animals. The fact that we chose to drive primarily after 9pm added to the solitude.  The sunsets themselves seemed more other-wordly.  The weather, more dramatic. The glow of the sun and the depth of the shadows were magnitudes higher than what our cameras could capture.

The sheep rule the landscape in South Eastern Iceland.
The sheep rule the landscape in South Eastern Iceland.

In this world, the glaciers towered over the landscape. The terrain was more rugged, more rocky, more dusty. The sheep were kings and queens of this world. We were just borrowing their sights for a few days.

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