General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Regai

Regai (ரேகை; Tamil for "fingerprint") is a 2025 Indian Tamil-language crime thriller web series created, written, and directed by M. Dhinakaran for the streaming platform ZEE5, adapted from a novel of the same name by the crime novelist Rajesh Kumar. It premiered on 28 November 2025 with six episodes, and follows Sub-Inspector Vetri as he investigates a medical team covering up the deaths of clinical trial participants by staging them as accidents.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Premiere	28 November 2025 on ZEE5, all six episodes released at once²
Format	Six episodes of 21, 20, 22, 25, 18, and 29 minutes; Tamil and Hindi audio; U/A 16+ rating¹
Source	Adapted from the novel Regai by crime novelist Rajesh Kumar²
Lead cast	Bala Hasan as SI Vetri, Pavithra Janani as Constable Sandhiya, Vinodhini Vaidyanathan as Dr Pushpavalli³
Central mystery	A severed hand found in an ice vending cart carries fingerprints matching multiple deceased people, exposing illegal drug trials¹
Audience rating	5.8/10 on IMDb from 193 user ratings⁴

Spoilers

Premise and plot

The story begins with the death of Amudhan, a poor student whom Vetri has been supporting in his studies, filed as an accident.⁵ While on patrol, Vetri and Constable Sandhya discover blood dripping from an ice cream cart and then two severed human hands inside it.¹ The severed hand's fingerprints match four different deceased individuals, pulling Vetri into an investigation of staged accidents and a medical conspiracy.⁶

The six episodes trace the case from the cart discovery through the questioning of Dr Pushpavalli at the government hospital, the reopening of Amudhan's case, the interrogation and escape of a suspect named Divya, and a finale in which Divya reveals the main culprit behind the illegal drug trials while Vetri moves to save Sandhya.¹ ZEE5's synopsis describes the antagonist as a medical team trying to cover up deaths of clinical trial participants by staging them as accidents.¹

Cast and characters

Bala Hasan plays Sub-Inspector Vetri, who leads the investigation; this marked his return to a limited series after The Game: You Never Play Alone. Pavithra Janani plays Constable Sandhiya, Vetri's colleague and romantic interest, her first lead role in a web series. Vinodhini Vaidyanathan plays Dr Pushpavalli. The supporting cast includes Anjali Rao, Poobalam Pragathesh, E. Indrajith, and M. Sriram.²^•³^•¹⁰

Production and source material

The series is scripted and directed by M. Dhinakaran and produced by S. Singaravelan under the SS Group banner, his second project with ZEE5 after Seruppugal Jaakirathai. Cinematography is by Mahendra M. Hendry, editing by Dorai Prakash, and the music and background score by RS Rajpratap.²^•³

The source novel is by Rajesh Kumar, a prolific Tamil crime fiction writer who began publishing in 1969 and has about 1,500 novels to his credit; he described the adaptation as taking "a simple idea" into "the darker corners of our society."⁷ English-speaking readers know Kumar through translations in the Blaft anthologies.⁵ Dhinakaran described the show as being about "quiet violence" that never makes it to a police report but destroys lives all the same.⁸

The story is set in Courtallam, in the Tirunelveli region of Tamil Nadu, far from Chennai; Vetri is a lovelorn inspector there awaiting a transfer to the Chennai bomb squad when he is ordered to pursue the case.⁹

Release

ZEE5 announced the premiere date of 28 November 2025 on social media in mid-November; the platform released all six episodes on launch day, and the series is also available via OTTplay Premium and on Airtel Xstream Play.⁸^•² A pre-release report had said the series would consist of seven episodes, while the released listing gives six; the sources do not explain the change.⁸^•¹¹

Reception

Critical response was mixed. Reviewers consistently praised the premise, five bodies bearing the same fingerprint, while faulting the execution. OTTplay gave 2/5, calling the series underwhelming and rushed, and noting that the medical-trial context arrives late in the run.¹² Cinema Express gave 2.5/5, finding the whodunnit mildly engaging but lost in excessive detailing and resting on a far-fetched theory.⁹ India Today gave 3/5, describing a familiar but engaging whodunnit with evident technical limitations that still works as a short, easy watch.¹³ Scroll.in criticized the staging as resembling a television serial and found the motive predictable, though it called Vetri's dogged investigation the most interesting part.⁵ The Times of India gave 2.5/5, arguing that the short format sacrificed character development, particularly for the villain.⁶ On the favorable side, Chennaivision gave 3.6/5 and MyKollywood 3.5/5, both praising the background score and Dhinakaran's direction.¹⁴

On IMDb, the series holds a 5.8/10 rating from 193 users.⁴

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Web-native and streaming-original series › Indian and South Asian web series

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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