Laughing Buddha on OTT: Rishab Shetty-produced cop comedy gets a second streaming home
Laughing Buddha, led by Pramod Shetty, directed by Bharath Raj of Hero fame, released in theatres in August 2024. It’s had an OTT outing and is now headed to a second platform as a non-exclusive deal
Last Updated: 10.04 AM, Apr 23, 2025
Laughing Buddha, produced by Kantara maker Rishab Shetty, with his pal Pramod Shetty in the lead, had released in theatres in late August last year and was on OTT a month and half later. The film is now headed to a second streaming home, as a non-exclusive deal. Directed by Bharath Raj M, who had made Hero with R ishab Shetty in the lead earlier, Laughing Buddha has been on Amazon Prime Video since October 18 and now, Sun Network has announced that it will soon be available on Sun NXT.
From April 25, 2025, Laughing Buddha will be available on Sun NXT, which is when the film completes 6 months on Prime Video. The best bet is that the initial agreement was for a 6-month hybrid deal, which is now running out. Rishab had also recently sold another production venture, Shivamma to Sun NXT, the platform that houses his National Award winning film Sarkaari Hiriya Praathamika Shaale , Kaasaragodu, Kodugé: Raamanna Rai.
| TITLE | Laughing Buddha |
| DIRECTOR | Bharath Raj M |
| CAST | Pramod Shetty, Teju Belawadi, Diganth |
| STREAMING PLATFORM | Sun NXT |
| STREAMING DATE | April 25, 2025 onward |
All about Pramod Shetty's Laughing Buddha
Laughing Buddha features Pramod as a mild-mannered, food-loving constable called Govardhan. His special knack of getting petty criminals to warm up to him and confess over steaming plates of home-cooked food works wonders for the precinct. So, when a crook who has stolen from the local MLA has amnesia after a thrashing from the SI, Govardhan is called in to use his ‘food charm’ and figure out if the culprit is faking it or has really no memory of where he’s stashed the money he stole.
Diganth plays the crook, a role that was initially meant for Rishab, but was reassigned following the success of Kantara. Rishab has only been focusing on the making of the next instalment in the Kantara universe – Kantara: Chapter 1, which will be in theatres on October 2, 2025. An ambitious project, set during the Kadamba dynasty, the film was rumoured to be delayed in production, but this speculation has been shut down by Hombale Films, claiming that the film will be in theatres as planned – 3 years after Kantara.