Naayak (English: Leader) is a 2013 Indian Telugu-language masala film written by Akula Siva and directed by V. V. Vinayak. The film was jointly produced by DVV Danayya and S. Radhakrishna under the banner Universal Media. The film features Ram Charan, Kajal Aggarwal and Amala Paul in the lead roles. S. Thaman composed the film’s soundtrack and background score. Chota K. Naidu undertook the cinematography and Gautham Raju was the film’s editor.
The film features Ram Charan in dual roles: Cherry, a software engineer in Hyderabad, and Siddharth Naayak, an inspiring young leader in Kolkata fighting against an evil politician named Rawat. The film revolves around Cherry assisting Siddharth in the triumph of good over evil after their paths cross.
Production began on 9 November 2011, and principal photography began on 7 February 2012. The film was extensively shot in Hyderabad and Kolkata, while a couple of the songs were shot in Dubai, Iceland, and Slovenia, making Naayak the first Indian film to be shot in Slovenia. Filming ended on 29 December 2012.
Released during the season of the Makar Sankranti festival on 9 January 2013, on 1600 screens worldwide, the film received generally positive reviews from critics and was commercially successful. The film was dubbed into Tamil and Malayalam with the same title. It was also dubbed in Hindi under the title Double Attack by Goldmines Telefilms in the same year. The film was loosely remade into Bengali (Bangladesh) as Hero: The Superstar in 2014.