Chhath Puja has never really had a Bollywood moment of its own. That changes, at least on paper, with 'Chhathi Maiya', the new track from Sidharth Malhotra and Tamannaah Bhatia's The Vvaan, which the makers are calling the first Hindi film song built entirely around the festival.

Vishal Mishra wrote the music and sings it, Kaushal Kishore wrote the lyrics, and Chinni Prakash choreographed the sequence around Tamannaah, who anchors the visuals. The song leans into the folk imagery of Bihar, eastern Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand, the belt where Chhath is at its biggest.

Tamannaah called it a personal moment in a statement shared alongside the release. "It feels surreal to be a part of The Vvaan and bring to life the pride of Bihar and Patna by celebrating Chhath for the first time on the big screen," she said, adding that she hoped audiences would feel "equally spiritual and devotional" watching it as the team did shooting it.

Kaushal Kishore framed the song as something closer to a tribute than a promotional cue. "My only wish is for the beauty and fragrance of our culture to travel to every corner of the world," he said, dedicating the track to "my people" and signing off with "Jai Chhathi Maiya."

Inside the film, the song does double duty. It's devotional on the surface, but it also ties into the Van Devi, the forest goddess figure who drives the fantasy plot of The Vvaan. Bollywood Hungama's report frames it as a window into the film's spiritual track, distinct from 'Samjho Na', the romantic number between Malhotra and Tamannaah that came out earlier in the campaign.

The Vvaan itself is an odd bet for a Hindi studio release. It's a folklore fantasy, produced by Ektaa Kapoor's Balaji Motion Pictures alongside Arunabh Kumar's TVF and 11.11 Production, with Deepak Mishra directing a script Kumar wrote himself. Manu Anand handles cinematography and visual direction. There's even a tie-in comic, The Legend of Vvaan, meant to build out the world beyond the film.

Whether a festival-specific devotional track can do real promotional work outside the Hindi heartland is the open question. Chhath is enormous in Bihar, Jharkhand and parts of UP, and among migrant communities from those states scattered across Mumbai, Delhi and beyond, but it's not a festival with pan-India multiplex recall the way Diwali or Holi songs get. The bet, clearly, is that specificity travels further than another generic wedding-song insert would have.

The Vvaan is due in cinemas on September 25. With the film barely two weeks out, expect at least one more song and a full promotional push built around Malhotra and Tamannaah's first pairing on screen.