Lakshmi Manchu finds life beyond cinema
From finding new creative energy in Mumbai to producing a film with her father Mohan Babu, actress is embracing change while staying unflinchingly outspoken — on cinema, sexism, and ED summons
Lakshmi Manchu’s fluency in Hindi is the first glimpse into her life as a Mumbaikar. Having relocated from Hyderabad to Mumbai with her daughter Vidya Nirvana two years ago, she says the move was nudged by an existential quest. “I love to explore, travel and needed a change in scene for myself and my child… Here, I feel I have a life beyond work. I visit art galleries, partake in the cultural scene. I feel there is a lot of life beyond cinema here in Mumbai.”
Despite embracing a new rhythm in Mumbai, cinema is never too far from Lakshmi’s world. She is gearing up for her latest Telugu release, Daksha: The Deadly Conspiracy, a psychological medical thriller co-starring her father, Mohan Babu. Producing her dad, she admits, came with its own challenges.
“Pulling the daddy card worked,” she laughs. “Our man doesn’t work after 6 pm, but I kept him on set till 12:12 am for the climax. I pushed his boundaries as he did mine during our scenes together.”
Picking stories that matter
For Lakshmi, genre selection is about freshness. “We just get so bored of horror comedies done 10,000 different ways. Medical thrillers resonate with the times we live in — on one hand, there are miracles, on the other, forces trying to destroy them.”
She believes Telugu cinema’s strength today lies in originality. “We’ve finally learned to accept who we are and tell our stories, rather than banking on remakes. We make more films than Bollywood combined because our love for cinema is something else.”
Fighting for Representation
She is quick to underline the gender gap. “Being a woman is a constant challenge. You have to prove yourself twice as hard as a man. Some of the biggest female superstars — Waheeda Rahman, Rekha, Sridevi, Jayaprada — were Telugu women. We once exported a genre; now we are only importing. The patriarchy baffles me.”
On ED Summons
She hasn’t escaped controversy either, having appeared before the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money-laundering probe alongside Rana Daggubati and Vijay Deverakonda. Characteristically candid, she says, “I find it humorous that the government comes to the tail end of the person. Just because you get headlines, we become scapegoats. Gaming apps are played all over the world, so stop the apps! But my friends made fun, saying at least people now think I have a lot of money.”
