Daksha actor Lakshmi Manchu recently filed a complaint with the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce over ageist and body-shaming remarks she faced in an interview, seeking an apology from the journalist
Lakshmi
On September 16, actor and producer Lakshmi Manchu filed a complaint with the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce (TFCC) over alleged ageist and body-shaming remarks she faced during the promotions of her film, Daksha: The Deadly Conspiracy. She said that the incident happened on September 15 when an interview with a journalist for a local Telugu channel turned into a 20-minute ordeal where the questions centred on her appearance, clothes, and age.
In her complaint, terming the interview as “an attack”, Manchu wrote, “Instead of engaging with the film, the craft, or the effort behind bringing this project to life, he chose to belittle me — targeting my age, my body, my clothes... His questions had no intent of understanding my work; they were designed only to provoke, demean, and diminish.” She ended the letter by urging the chamber to take disciplinary action against the journalist.
Recalling the experience to mid-day, Manchu said that she had walked into the interview expecting a chat about her film, sharing screen space with her father Mohan Babu, and their craft. She shared, “But when the focus shifted to my personal life and my age, I realised the intent was not to celebrate cinema but to diminish me as a woman. As an artiste, I’m used to critiquing my work. But when it becomes personal and derogatory, it’s dehumanising. I had to summon every bit of composure I had because reacting in anger would only feed the narrative he wanted.”
There is no room for body-shaming and ageism — that is the message the actor wants to send out by registering a complaint with the TFCC. She said, “Subtle forms of body-shaming and ageism are something most women in our industry deal with regularly, whether it’s being told we’re ‘too old’, ‘too pretty’, or ‘too tall’ for certain roles or being compared unfairly to men who continue to be celebrated at every age. But this was the first time I encountered such targeted shaming in a professional interview. It was an abuse of the platform he was given.”
When asked about the kind of action she wants taken, she said, “I need an apology and accountability for the hurtful words he used.”
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