चंदा से छुप के

Chanda Se Chhup Ke (चंदा से छुप के) is a distinctive track from the soundtrack of Goldfish (2023), Pushan Kripalani's drama starring Kalki Koechlin and Deepti Naval, notable chiefly for being sung by legendary Hindustani classical vocalist Ustad Rashid Khan — one of his rare forays into film music. Composed and produced by Tapas Relia under his Sufiscore banner with lyrics by Kausar Munir, the song was released on 19 August 2023 as part of the film's EP. Built around rapid-fire, tongue-twister-style alliteration ('chanda chamke cham cham, chikhein chaukanna chor'), the track turns Rashid Khan's classical vocal precision into a display of rhythmic and phonetic virtuosity rather than a conventional film song, giving the Goldfish soundtrack one of its most technically demanding and memorable pieces.

Tapas Relia designs Chanda Se Chhup Ke around rapid alliterative patterns — repeating consonant clusters like 'ch' across successive phrases — that demand precise, rhythmically locked diction from the vocalist. Casting Ustad Rashid Khan, one of Hindustani classical music's most acclaimed voices, for this kind of playful, high-speed vocal exercise is unusual for a film soundtrack, and the arrangement leans into that classical foundation, letting Khan's control of pitch and rhythm carry a piece that functions almost like a vocal tongue-twister set to melody.

Kausar Munir's lyric leans entirely into sound-play — the opening line 'chanda chamke cham cham, chikhein chaukanna chor' (the moon shines brightly, the wary thief cries out) stacks alliterating 'ch' sounds into a rapid, almost comic verse, prioritising phonetic rhythm and playful imagery (a moon, an alert thief) over narrative or romantic content. It is a lighter, more experimental piece of writing than the rest of the Goldfish soundtrack, built to showcase vocal dexterity as much as meaning.

Goldfish follows Anamika (Kalki Koechlin), who returns to her London childhood home after her mother Sadhana (Deepti Naval), a former classical singer, is diagnosed with dementia. Given Sadhana's classical music background, director Pushan Kripalani wove raag-rooted textures through the film's score, and casting Ustad Rashid Khan for Chanda Se Chhup Ke — released as part of the soundtrack EP on 19 August 2023 — reinforces that classical thread, giving the film's musical world a direct link to the Hindustani tradition its central character embodies.

Chanda Se Chhup Ke stands out in 2023's Hindi film music landscape primarily because of its performer — Ustad Rashid Khan, a Padma Bhushan-winning classical vocalist, rarely lent his voice to film soundtracks, making this an unusual and noteworthy credit. The song is part of a soundtrack that helped earn Goldfish a 93% Rotten Tomatoes score and composer Tapas Relia a Filmfare nomination for Best Background Score, giving this classical-leaning track a place in one of 2023's more critically respected, if commercially niche, Hindi soundtracks.