Gana on OTT: Prajwal Devaraj’s Kannada remake of Play Back is now available to stream

Prajwal Devaraj’s first release of the year, Gana, directed by Hari Prasad Jakka, hit theatres on January 31, 2025. The film was the director’s Kannada version of his earlier Telugu movie, Play Back, and amid no promotional activity in the lead up to its release, had a forgettable theatrical outing. The film, which also stars Vedhika, Yasha Shivakumar, Ravi Kale, Sampath Raj, Krishi Thapanda, among others, is one of only 2 films from 2025 to be on OTT. As of February 2025, 57 Kannada films have released in theatres.

Also read: Exclusive! My film with Prajwal Devaraj, Gana, is not a run-of-the-mill commercial drama: Vedhika 

Prajwal Devaraj's Gana out on Sun NXT 

Gana has made its way to Sun NXT, a platform that also houses other Prajwal-led films like Inspector Vikram, Gentleman, Veeram, Abbara, among many others. The film dropped on the platform on March 7, 2025, a day on which Prajwal gets his second theatrical release of the year, a time-loop horror tale called Rakshasa, directed by Lohith H.

In Gana, Prajwal plays the title character, an investigative journalist, who moves into an old house, where, strangely enough, there’s a functional landline telephone. Strangely enough, when the phone rings, Gana is connected to Sujatha (Vedhika), who is not only separated from him by distance, but by time too, given that she is in 1993. When they realize that they belong to two different time periods, he helps her set her future right, by changing events in the past, which is her present.

The film is the latest to explore parallel universes and time travel. Last year’s Kannada film Murphy also explored a similar concept, with a youngster from modern day, connecting with a woman in the 90s through a radio. Prior to that, Priyanka Upendra’s 1980 had her as a writer living in the 80s, who connects with someone in modern day via a landline telephone.

Also read: Gana trailer: Prajwal Devaraj leads faithful remake of Telugu sci-fi flick Play Back 

Meanwhile, Gana is said to be among the last of Prajwal’s backlog of what he calls ‘routine commercial films’, with a new phase in his filmography kicking off with Rakshasa this week, which he follows up with Karavali.