Something's shifting in Bollywood this Chhath season. "The Vvaan: Force of the Forest" gave Sidharth Malhotra and Tamannaah Bhatia a song called "Chhathi Maiya," built entirely around the festival's devotional imagery. Days later, Ayushmann Khurrana and Sharvari's "Yeh Prem Mol Liya" dropped a title track that weaves Chhath in alongside wedding and family celebration scenes. Entertainment press is calling it out directly: Chhath is becoming mainstream Bollywood's next big festival moment, the way Karwa Chauth was for an entire generation of films before it.
If you grew up with Chhath, there's a very specific feeling that comes with watching this happen: pride, mixed with a small, familiar sigh of finally — and maybe a little bit of "you're getting the mood right, but you're not showing the whole thing."
What the songs get right
The devotional intensity is real, and it's genuinely rare to see it depicted with any seriousness on a mainstream screen. Chhath isn't a festive backdrop — it's a four-day vrat of fasting and ritual discipline, standing in water at sunrise and sunset, hours of preparation that start well before the actual puja day. A song that captures that mood, even briefly, is doing something regional cinema has quietly done for decades and mainstream Bollywood mostly hasn't touched until now.
What they can't show you in three minutes
What a song can't capture is the two days before the puja — the smell of jaggery melting in a kadhai, someone's dadi or mausi checking the thekua dough for exactly the right stiffness, the specific sound of thekua hitting hot ghee in batches that go on for hours. That part of Chhath has never made it to a screen, because it isn't really a performance — it's just what happens in the kitchen while everyone waits.
For the Bihari diaspora especially — students and professionals living in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, or further abroad — that kitchen scene is often the thing they miss most and can least recreate on their own. A song can remind you of home. It can't actually get you the thekua.
The part worth taking from this moment
Trends like this pass. What doesn't pass is the fact that more people outside Bihar are now curious about what an authentic Chhath actually looks and tastes like — and that's a genuinely good thing for a regional tradition that's spent a long time being under-represented on the national stage.
At Kasaar, we're not in the business of putting Chhath on screen. We're in the business of making sure the part that can't fit in a three-minute song — the actual thekua, made the way it's always been made — is available to anyone who wants it, wherever they are.
Ek Bite, Ek Yaad — Bihar ka apna swaad.
Frequently asked questions
Which Bollywood movies feature Chhath Puja in 2026?
"The Vvaan: Force of the Forest" (Sidharth Malhotra, Tamannaah Bhatia) features a song titled "Chhathi Maiya" centered on Chhath Puja. "Yeh Prem Mol Liya" (Ayushmann Khurrana, Sharvari) includes Chhath imagery in its title track alongside wedding and family celebration themes.
Has Chhath Puja been shown in Bollywood films before?
Chhath Puja has appeared in Bihar-based regional cinema for decades, but entertainment press is describing 2026's "Chhathi Maiya" (The Vvaan) as one of the first times mainstream Bollywood has centered a song around the festival.
What does Chhath Puja involve that isn't shown in a film song?
The days of preparation before the puja — making thekua from scratch with wheat flour, jaggery, and ghee, and the household rituals of purity and fasting — are the parts of Chhath that don't translate into a short screen depiction.
Related reading
Shop Kasaar Thekua · Homesick? A Taste of Bihar, Delivered · Chhath Puja Guide: Rituals & Prasad · Chhathi Maiya: What "The Vvaan" Song Gets Right
