Released · Telugu film · 2013
Naayak
నాయక్
Naayak release date: 9 January 2013 (theatres). Directed by V. V. Vinayak; starring Ram Charan, Kajal Aggarwal and Amala Paul.
- Film release
- 9 January 2013 · All 2013 films
- Director
- V. V. Vinayak
- Music
- S. Thaman
- Production
- Universal Media
- Writing credits
- V. V. Vinayak
- Runtime
- 160 min
- Language
- Telugu
OTT release
No streaming platform is on file for this film.
Film release: 9 January 2013 · all 2013 Telugu films.
Source: the film’s Wikipedia article, checked 25 September 2026. It does not name a streaming platform or date; this page says so rather than guessing.
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Naayak (meaning “Leader”) is a 2013 Telugu-language action comedy drama directed by V. V. Vinayak, who co-wrote it with Akula Siva, and produced by D. V. V. Danayya under Universal Media. It stars Ram Charan in a dual role, with Kajal Aggarwal and Amala Paul. Released on 9 January 2013 for Sankranti to generally positive reviews, it was the fifth highest-grossing Telugu film of the year.
Story
A man named Siddharth Naayak kills the brother of a Union minister and his henchmen to protect his friends, and a CBI officer is ordered to hunt him down. Meanwhile in Hyderabad, Cherry, a software engineer who looks exactly like him, gets into trouble with a local gangster while defending his uncle and falls for the gangster’s sister, Madhu. The two lookalikes’ stories become entangled as the truth about Siddharth comes out.
Cast
- Ram Charan as Siddharth Naayak and his lookalike Cherry
- Kajal Aggarwal, in her second film with Ram Charan after Magadheera
- Amala Paul as the second female lead
- Posani Krishna Murali and Jaya Prakash Reddy in comic roles; Charmee Kaur in a song with Ram Charan
Development
Vinayak and Akula Siva began work on the script in 2011, with Kona Venkat assisting on the screenplay, and Chiranjeevi approved it. The film was launched at Annapurna Studios on 9 November 2011 and titled Naayak in August 2012. S. Thaman composed the music in his first film with both Vinayak and Ram Charan, Chota K. Naidu was the cinematographer and Gautham Raju the editor. The Central Board of Film Certification cleared the title after a group objected to it.
Filming
Principal photography ran from 7 February to 29 December 2012, mostly in Hyderabad and Kolkata. Ram Charan did many of his own stunts, and filming paused for about three weeks after he was injured on Rachcha. Songs were shot in Dubai, Iceland and Slovenia, making it the first Indian film to shoot in Slovenia.
Release and box office
The film opened on 1,589 screens worldwide on 9 January 2013. According to the source it grossed over ₹84 crore, with a distributors’ share of ₹46.5 crore.
Sources: Wikipedia and Wikidata.
Cast of Naayak (2013)
- Ram Charan as Charan 'Cherry' / Siddharth Naayak
- Kajal Aggarwal as Madhu
- Amala Paul as Nandini
- Brahmanandam as Jilebi
Additional cast
Further acting credits recorded for this film; voice-only and dubbing credits are excluded.
- Tanikella Bharani as judge
- Raghu Babu as Babji's henchman
- Rajiv Kanakala
- Posani Krishna Murali
- Satyam Rajesh as Dassu's henchman
- Fish Venkat
- Praveen
- Jaya Prakash Reddy
- Sudha as Cherry's mother
- Kota Srinivasa Rao
- Ashish Vidyarthi as CBI Officer
- Duvvasi Mohan
- Gundu Sudarshan
- Pradeep Rawat as Minister Rawat
- Charmy Kaur
- Rahul Dev as Gandipeta Babji
- Ahuti Prasad
- Vineet Kumar as Dassu, a mafia don in Hyderabad
- Dev Gill as Rawat's Second Brother
- Venu Madhav as Venu
- Anandhi as Raghu Babu's sister
Also in the cast (TMDB): Jayaprakash Reddy as Babji's Paternal Uncle, Surekha Vani as Siddharth's sister, Rajeev Kanakala as Siddharth's brother-in-law, M. S. Narayana as drunkard CBI officer, Ajaz Khan as Taxi Seth, Rawat's first brother.
Character names as listed on TMDB, checked 10 Oct 2026.
What critics said
The article describes positive reviews for V. V. Vinayak's crowd-pleasing entertainer, though some critics found the story routine and the violence excessive.
- The Hindu (Y. Sunita Chowdary) found the writing humorous and lively, with the dialogue and a brisk screenplay covering the flaws.
- Daily News and Analysis (Mahalakshmi Prabhakaran) called it an age-old formula that is still entertaining.
- The Times of India (AS Sashidhar) described a “pot boiling paisa vasool entertainer”.
- Rediff.com (Radhika Rajamani) enjoyed the breezy first half but found much of the second-half violence repulsive.
- Sify found the story routine and predictable after the interval, calling the film average.
Box office: the article reports a worldwide gross of ₹29.5 crore in the first week.
Summarised by Tollywood Desk from the reception section of the Wikipedia article Naayak (revision 1366118930), which cites the reviews named above. Quotation marks show words quoted in that article; no ratings or scores are added here.
Source record: Q2808683 on Wikidata. Dates are those on record and can change; this is not a studio announcement. Spotted an error? Send a correction.