Crime writer Rajesh Kumar steps into OTT field with ‘Regai’

When I dialed the number of crime writer Rajesh Kumar, it was 9 o’clock at night. The 77-year-old’s baritone sounds exactly the same as when we talked six years ago. “I go to bed at 12 o’clock,” he says, adding that he writes till 11 pm. Rajesh Kumar remains a topic of discussion in Tamil entertainment world with web-series. RegaiIt is set to premiere on OTT platform ZEE5 this week. It is based on his novel Ulagai Vilaykel from the 1990s, which has been further developed by writer-director M Dhinakaran.

Regai This is the author’s first OTT collaboration and he is excited about it. Rajesh Kumar believes, “It is only now that I have got proper recognition for my work.” “It is a medical thriller, which depicts an invisible crime.” His quaint Coimbatore home, which has played host to him churning out one crime novel after another for decades, is now hosting video calls, Zoom meetings, phone calls and visits from people associated with the film to hammer out story ideas.

He makes time for his various matters every day from 9.30 am onwards and writes with discipline. It is this discipline that has seen him through over 1,500 crime novels and his recent creative collaboration with ZEE5. Tamil film directors have been reaching out to Rajesh Kumar for a long time, with OTT platforms showing interest in him for the last few years. His crime stories, written with a cinematic flair, are considered suitable for the screen. However, he says that many discussions have been removed from the scale of his stories.

from still Regai
Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Rajesh Kumar wonders whether his novels would have reached the big screen sooner had he lived in Chennai. “I would have been more accessible then,” he says. But he says his current life – which revolves around his wife and his writing – is most important. “I have moved beyond the phase when I go to Chennai and sit in long film discussions,” he says. “My life is here. [in Coimbatore] And my wife is more important to me than anything else.”

after RegaiThe author is looking forward to further collaboration with ZEE5. “Talks are on to develop my popular investigative characters Vivek, Rupela and Vishnu,” he says, adding that Vivek will make a charming detective on the lines of Sherlock Holmes, with Vishnu playing the role of his bubbly assistant. Vivek, who is inspired by Rajesh Kumar’s “guru and role model” Swami Vivekananda, has long been the choice of Tamil filmmakers. “There was often debate about which actor would play him,” he says. “Would it be Rajini, Kamal or Sarath Kumar? In later years, he wondered whether Vijay or Ajith would be suitable.”

from still Regai
Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

But Rajesh Kumar feels that only a newcomer would be able to do justice to the role, and he is eager to see Vivek come alive on screen. Rajesh Kumar’s works, many of which are based on pseudoscience, have long surprised readers by predicting technology and the crimes that actually unfold in today’s world. Which perhaps makes him one of the most relevant Tamil crime writers of our times.

He is now working on a novel based on Artificial Intelligence. “Is AI good or bad? What will it do for humanity?”. he asks and adds that his novel will shed light on the most popular debates in the world today. He remembers a reader asking him about the technology. “My answer to him was: What if AI knowledge has been imposed on us by extraterrestrials? Perhaps they came to Earth many years ago to spread among humans. Never stop questioning, never stop speculating,” he says, speaking like a true crime writer. So, the next time you ask ChatGPT something, maybe, just maybe, there will be an alien on the other end.

Regai Will air on ZEE5 on 28th November.