VANITY VANS: Film stars always faced a problem when shooting outdoors as they would have to travel miles back to the hotel to use the toilet, or change their costumes. While some of the male stars did not mind getting into their cars to change, the trip to the hotel became mandatory for calls of nature. Though, there is this story of how Waheeda Rehman did go behind the bushes to attend to the call of nature because the hotel was too far away when she was shooting in the deserts of Rajasthan for Sunil Dutt’s Reshma Aur Shera.
However, that then; years later, Poonam Dhillon thought of converting a bus into a utility van that could be used by stars to rest in air-conditioned comfort between shots when on an outdoor shooting stint, and to change in the privacy of the compact travelling make-up room also equipped with toilet facilities. While abroad, such vans are called trailer vans or make-up vans, Poonam decided to name her first such van ‘Vanity’, and the name has stuck, soon becoming a generic term for all such make-up vans. Today, not just stars, but even technicians ask for ‘Vanity’ vans, and there are a couple of them ordered for the production staff as well so that dispersal of money and accounting can be done in private. These ‘Vanity’ vans have now become a matter of prestige and are used even when the shooting is in studios which are equipped with make-up rooms. While television stars just can’t do without these ‘Vanity’ vans, film stars have taken the fad to another level with vans equipped with everything they have at home, including a bed (very necessary!), Plasma TV with a DVD player, music system, and a basic gym too. Home away from home!!
