Actor Lakshmi Manchu spoke to the press in Hyderabad on Tuesday while promoting her upcoming show, Top Telugu Influencer, which will stream on the Aha OTT platform. She spoke about her rift with a Telugu journalist last year, revealing that not only did nobody help her during the ordeal, but she was also asked to delete the apology he eventually sent her a month later.
Lakshmi Manchu says nobody helped when reporter demeaned her
Lakshmi spoke to the press and said it took her a month to receive an apology after a reporter demeaned her during an interview. “It took me one month to get an apology. And when I posted that apology on Twitter, I received a call from the press association. They asked me to remove it because he was feeling bad,” she said, before adding, “Nannu vanda mandi mundu vyaktigatamga ala matladinapudu nenu feel avvadam leda? (Would I also not feel bad when he demeans me in front of hundreds of people?)”
Lakshmi then claimed that she approached every association and those in charge, before the reporter finally apologised. And later, she says she was asked to remove his apology from her social media. “I went to every association and spoke to everyone in charge. Nobody helped me. I continued, I continued, I continued. There are around 25 names I can take. But I won it. Responsibility has to be in all areas. If I say something objectionable, I have to be questioned,” said the actor.
When a reporter at the press meet claimed that nobody called her from the journalists’ association, that they did help her and informed her that the journalist was no longer working in the field, she replied, “I don’t know, and I don’t care about people who…very good, he deserved it. I had to be the voice of it. I’m not the first person he said something to. I am the first person who called him out. Even journalists had complained to me about him before that. Finally, I had to do something about it. Maybe you don’t know, but I did get a call.”
What happened
In September 2025, a Great Andhra reporter questioned Lakshmi’s sense of dressing, commenting that she was close to 50 and the mother of a girl child. The actor hit back, asking if he would ask the same question to Mahesh Babu. “How dare you! How dare you ask me that question?” she said. When he backtracked, claiming it’s what was said online about her, she called out misogyny in the film industry. Lakshmi claimed that a superstar’s ex-wife wasn’t getting work because his feelings were prioritised.
Later, Lakshmi filed a complaint against the reporter with the Telangana Film Chamber of Commerce (TFCC), issuing a statement, “India is a country that reveres women as Shakti, yet when we step into professional spaces, we are subjected to casual misogyny, humiliation, and disrespect. This cannot continue. I owe it not only to myself but to the many young women who look up to me to call this out.” She also demanded a public apology.. “Respect is not optional. Accountability is not negotiable,” she stated.
The reporter only sent her a video and a written apology in October. “I choose to close this chapter now with dignity and peace and move forward with renewed strength and respect for every woman who continues to raise her voice with integrity,” wrote Lakshmi, posting the video and written apology on her social media.
Top Telugu Influencers will stream on Aha from July 3 at 7 PM. Lakshmi last starred in Pookie and Lechindi Mahila Lokam this year. She was a contestant on The Traitors India last year.