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Next Big Thing: How 'All We Imagine as Light' Became Topshe's Quiet Breakthrough
Topshe, a self-taught musician, blends nostalgia and instinct into evocative compositions, subtly redefining the craft.
Some artistes burst onto the scene, grabbing your attention with shock and spectacle. Topshe, on the other hand, slips quietly into the fabric of your consciousness, like he always belonged there. His work on All We Imagine as Light — the breakout film of last year directed by Payal Kapadia — is a vital, breathing presence, entwining itself with the narrative.
Born in Kolkata, Topshe, 32, grew up surrounded by tributes to a legend. “My name is Dhritiman [Das],” he explains, “after Dhritiman Chatterjee, who acted in many of Satyajit Ray’s films.” But the name that stuck, the one that feels truly his, is a more playful homage: Topshe, borrowed from Ray’s beloved literary series Feluda. “It’s my daak naam (nickname in Bengali),” he says, a moniker gifted by a family friend around the time of Ray’s passing, as an almost instinctive act of reverence.
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Topshe’s childhood in Kolkata in the ’90s was one of cricket games in apartment courtyards and mandatory music classes, as dictated by the universal rulebook of Bengali parenting. “Like all good Bengali parents, mine enrolled me and my elder brother in music lessons,” he says with a laugh. Piano came first, with its regimented Western classical repertoire, until the lure of rock-and-roll rebellion led him to the guitar.
“I never had a guitar teacher,” he admits. “My brother showed me some chords, and the rest I figured out on my own, listening to music.” This self-taught approach, free of rigid boundaries, became a defining trait. He wasn’t chasing mastery; he was just exploring music as a language of feeling rather than technical precision.
Growing up without the internet’s conveniences meant an analogue process of borrowing, swapping, and scavenging for music. Friends with better resources would burn CDs, filling them with whatever Topshe was curious about at the time. “We played a lot of classic rock and alternative rock in the school band,” he says. The Beatles, Dire Straits, and Led Zeppelin became his foundation, layered with the sound of cartoons and the nostalgia of cassettes in his parents’ car.
Topshe’s relationship with Mumbai, the city at the heart of All We Imagine as Light, is one of love, alienation, and quiet reverence. The music he composed for Payal Kapadia’s film captures this spirit in ways words cannot. “Mumbai is chaos,” he reflects. “It’s loneliness in a city that’s always full. It’s the monsoons and the endless, sprawling emptiness of it all.” The duality of this city — intimate yet expansive, personal yet cinematic — defines not only his compositions and his relationship with this city, but the artiste himself.
Collaborating with Kapadia was as much about trust as it was about craft. “We’ve known each other for years, so there was a comfort,” he says. “She could reject my ideas without hesitation, and I didn’t take it personally.” The result is a soundtrack of minimalist precision: single instruments — the piano, celesta and guitar — layered sparingly to evoke private, unspoken emotions.
One piece, “Gently Down the Stream”, was composed even before the film was shot, an early experiment that resonated deeply enough to make it to the final cut. Others, like “Anu’s Song”, evolved organically, its bittersweet melody split into two parts during post-production to better serve the narrative.
Reflecting on the film’s reception, he says, “It’s been wonderful receiving so much love and recognition. The film existed as a very private thing for so long — just in my studio and Payal’s ears. It now exists in other people’s living rooms, and it’s surreal to see it resonate with so many.”
Despite the acclaim for All We Imagine as Light, Topshe remains unhurried, almost resistant to the high-stakes hustle of Mumbai’s creative industries. He’s currently back in Kolkata, far from the frantic pace of the city of dreams. “I’m not part of the race,” he says simply. “My focus is on creating and releasing music. I’d love more opportunities like this to work on films and express myself authentically.”
Social media, that great equaliser and oppressor of indie artistes, holds little appeal for him. “I’ve never been great at it,” he admits. “I’d rather let the work speak for itself.”
Even this early in his career, Topshe wants to resist the binaries of “good” and “bad”, instead trusting instinct and emotion to guide his preferences. “Music either resonates with you, or it doesn’t,” he says. This openness extends to his influences, which range from Pan-African rhythms to Japanese ambient music, and even the nostalgic pull of Bollywood soundtracks. “There’s a specific sound to every era,” he muses. “Even bad songs from the past can feel good later because they’re infused with nostalgia.”
What’s next for Topshe? The answer lies in “in-between” moments — the quiet hours spent composing for himself, free from deadlines and external expectations. “Sometimes, the in-between feels like too much time,” he admits. “But right now, I’m working on my own music. I hope to release some tracks soon.”
Also Read | ‘All We Imagine As Light’ Review: Payal Kapadia’s Sublime Love-Hate Letter To Mumbai
Topshe may not chase the spotlight, but the world is beginning to catch up with his quiet discovery. In the end, the hope is that his music — like his name — stands as a tribute to something larger, and that it becomes a bridge between the deeply personal and the universally resonant.
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