Vanity vans have become a mandatory part of Bollywood's shooting amenities in the last two decades. And in the last 10 years, they have gained so much importance as superstar arsenal, that Shah Rukh Khan recently built yet another state-of-the-art van for himself, at a cost of a one-BHK in Bandra.

While every star worth his pancake - from Salman Khan to Ajay Devgn - has a vanity van or even two of his own, others hire one for their shootings. A trade source estimates that at least 350 vanity vans are regularly booked for Bollywood and advertising shoots. Costing approximately Rs 4,000 per shift plus Rs 2,000 for the driver and cleaner, producers have no choice but to book makeup vans for the actors because it is a given that a star will not report on set till his vanity is pandered to.

So, what happened to the good-old makeup rooms you may ask? These come free or at nominal costs when producers shoot in studios. However, stars today do not want to even enter these rooms because most of them are in a dilapidated state.

Earlier, when there were no vanity vans, makeup rooms were legends in their own right. One recalls that in the early 80s, there were a couple of rooms in Filmcity, Mumbai, that were called the honeymoon rooms and reserved only for Hema Malini and Dharmendra.

There was one big makeup room at Filmistan Studios, which stars often fought wars over because it was the more spacious one. And there is another one at Mehboob Studios that was always kept for Dev Anand. After him, other cinema legends like Amitabh Bachchan occupied this room. "But in the last two decades, the makeup van is ubiquitous at film shoots," says executive film producer Sanchita Chatterjee.

"We are so comfortable in our vans," says Kareena Kapoor Khan, adding, "It makes perfect sense for us to have one at our shoots." Bebo says that with the exception of the makeup room at one studio in Andheri, she cannot remember ever visiting such rooms on any of her other locations.


How did the makeup room lose out to the vanity? "For one, it gives us the privacy we need," says Ajay Devgn. Parked right outside the set, it saves the star the effort of having to walk up to the makeup room. It also helps fans from crowding around them and in these days of selfies, it stops the selfie stampede.

Back in the day, when Filmcity didn't filter the crowds around the studios, actors have been harassed by fans. Superstar vanities provide custom-made facilities that a makeup room doesn't. There is everything from a kitchen, a seating area, a bed, vacuum toilets and bath to gaming stations, a huge television etc... all of which are maintained according to the star idiosyncrasies. "For example, Ajay's van is even fitted with a humidifier because Ajay is a chain smoker and it can get claustrophobic in the van," says a production assistant.

Sanjay Dutt has a 50-foot long vanity van, while Anil Kapoor's personal makeup bus is approximately 42-foot long. Deepika Padukone's van is done in pastel colours to give it a fresh, feminine touch and also made to the actress' specifications.

Fitness junkies even have small gym spaces allotted within their vans. One or two of them have converted an entire vanity into a mobile gym. With such amenities at their finger tips, the makeup rooms, with their peeling paint, musky smell and weather-beaten carpets are used by the lesser stars. Or they are being used as godowns, to store the costumes of junior artistes in huge aluminum trunks. Or even worse, there are tailors sitting around to make last-minute alterations to the stars' costumes.

P.S. Newer studios are taking trouble to design makeup rooms in a contemporary style, with good sanitary facilities and security outside the door. But the lure of the vanity van is still too much for a star to resist.