(February 16, 2026) When Dhurandhar stormed the box office in late 2025, it rewrote records. The spy action Bollywood thriller became one of the highest grossing Hindi films in history, and has earned over ₹1,300 crore worldwide and more than ₹800 crore in India alone, so far. Its long theatrical run and cultural buzz has made it the year’s defining blockbuster. Amid the scale, spectacle and star power, a voice cut through with startling force. That voice belongs to 24-year-old rising star of Indian rap, Reble.
A voice that cut through a blockbuster
For Daiaphi Lamare, professionally known as Reble, the jump to a film of this magnitude was anything but calculated. “Dhurandhar happened out of nowhere. It’s amazing,” she says in a recent interview, still sounding slightly surprised by the speed of it all. She admits she didn’t think she would get into the movie industry that soon.
Her contribution to the soundtrack, especially Run Down The City – Monica, a remix with Asha Bhosle’s “Piya Tu Ab To Aja”, expanded her audience overnight. “Dhurandhar was a very beautiful experience and Run Down The City – Monica is definitely one of my favourite songs. I love that remix. I think that’s really cool,” adds the rapper who also penned the lyrics.
Yet she resists dramatic narratives around her ascent. “I don’t think I am a DHH (desi hip hop) star. I am not there yet but I hope to become one someday,” she says with a laugh, tempering the hype with perspective.
Growing up between Shillong and the Jaintia Hills
Reble was born in Nangbah in Meghalaya’s West Jaintia Hills and grew up immersed in Khasi and Pnar cultural influences. Her childhood unfolded across Shillong and surrounding regions. “Most of my upbringing, my teenage years were in Shillong and also in West Jaintia Hills,” she recalls.
The Northeast has long remained peripheral in India’s mainstream music discourse, but for Reble, geography was never a boundary. “I had a dream and I wanted to be bigger than where I came from,” she says. That ambition took root early. Introduced to music as a child, she began writing lyrics and experimenting with rap by the age of 10, absorbing influences from hip hop, rock and indie scenes alike.
Choosing rebellion as identity
The name Reble is not stylised branding. It mirrors temperament. As a teenager, she bristled at structure and conformity. “I’ve always been a very rebellious person, still I am,” she says. In earlier conversations, she has described struggling with rigid norms and social expectations, feeling resistant to being boxed into predefined roles.
That sensibility shapes her sound. Her music blends hip hop with trap, hardcore, alternative and R&B, carrying emotional charge without sacrificing craft. It is music that questions, confronts and often unsettles.
From independent recognition to national attention
Reble began performing in 2018 under the name Daya before formally adopting Reble in 2019. Her debut single Bad, produced by D Mon of Khasi Bloodz, marked her entry into Shillong’s hip hop scene. Follow-up releases steadily built her profile.
Vogue India named her among eight emerging Indian women in hip hop in 2021. Rolling Stone India later featured her collaboration Talk of the Town among the Best Indian Independent Singles of 2022. Her four track EP Entropy, released via Kamani Records in 2022, demonstrated an evolution toward a more layered, melodic approach, with introspective themes woven into her rap framework. Publications such as Femina, Elle India and Rolling Stone India took note of her bold lyricism and distinctive presence.
Singles like Terror, Set It Off, Only Uparwala Can Judge Me and Killswitch Red Bull 64 Bars further expanded her audience, while performances at Bacardi NH7 Weekender and the Shillong Cherry Blossom Festival strengthened her live credentials. In April 2025, she was included in Rolling Stone India’s Future of Music list, affirming her growing national relevance.
Engineering as a parallel path
While her music career gathered pace, Reble pursued stability with equal seriousness. She completed her civil engineering degree from Visvesvaraya Technological University in Bengaluru in 2025. “I did finish my engineering degree. I always loved science and I thought I am gonna work as an engineer and make music on the side but I got really lucky,” she says.
Balancing academics and performance schedules was not easy. There were moments when music felt uncertain as a long term career. But around the time she graduated, her trajectory shifted. Opportunities multiplied, and momentum built. The decision to commit fully to music followed naturally.
Expanding the frame
Beyond box office numbers and festival lineups, Reble remains anchored in introspection. She speaks candidly about self doubt and creative restlessness. Inspiration, she says, comes from life itself, from emotion and lived experience.
Her philosophy on art is pragmatic rather than romantic. “Nothing is original. It’s all inspired by different things. But having your style gives that little piece of you. And I think that’s a very beautiful process. That’s music. That’s art.”
From the hills of Meghalaya to Bollywood’s largest soundstages, Reble’s journey resists easy packaging. It is neither overnight success nor neatly scripted breakthrough. Instead, it is a steady widening of scale, an assertion that voices from India’s margins need not remain there.
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