Lakshmi Manchu did not let the past stay in the past. While speaking to the press in Hyderabad on Tuesday at a promotional event for her upcoming show Top Telugu Influencer, which will stream on Aha, she revisited the incident from September last year when a reporter publicly questioned her dressing choices. What she revealed this time was not just about what happened then. It was about what happened after.
Nobody stepped in
Lakshmi said she went from door to door looking for support after the incident. She approached every association. She spoke to those in charge. Nothing moved.
“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 at the press meet.
She did not hold back on how that made her feel. “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?)” she said.
She listed roughly 25 names of people she reached out to. Nobody helped. But she kept going. “I continued, I continued, I continued,” she said, adding, “Responsibility has to be in all areas. If I say something objectionable, I have to be questioned.”
When a reporter at Tuesday’s press meet pushed back and said the journalists’ association did help her and that the reporter in question was no longer working in the field, Lakshmi responded without missing a beat. “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
The original incident took place during a promotional press interview for her film ‘Daksha: A Deadly Conspiracy’. A Great Andhra reporter posed a sexist question to Lakshmi, suggesting that her dressing choices were inappropriate for a woman in her 40s who is also a mother.
Lakshmi hit back on the spot. She confronted the journalist, asking, “Would you ask a man the same question? How dare you! How dare you ask me that?” She went on to point out that nobody tells Mahesh Babu, who is 50, to stop going shirtless, and yet women are questioned for wearing what they want once they cross 40.
The complaint she filed
She did not stop at the press interaction. Lakshmi Manchu filed a formal complaint with the Telangana Film Chamber of Commerce against the reporter for allegedly body shaming and making ageist remarks about her.
In her statement to the TFCC, Lakshmi wrote, “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 demanded a public apology, stating, “Respect is not optional. Accountability is not negotiable.”
The apology that finally came
The reporter sent a video and written apology in October 2025, a month after the incident. Lakshmi posted both on her social media.
In her response, Lakshmi said, “This time, I didn’t want to stay silent. If I don’t stand up for myself, no one else will. This experience deeply hurt me. All I wanted was a genuine apology and accountability.”
She added, “Small acts of courage like this help women keep their voices alive. I stand with the brave women who spoke out before me. Their strength gives me the power to speak today.”
She concluded, “I am moving forward with peace and self-respect. I respect every woman who speaks her truth with honesty and courage.”
But then came the phone call asking her to take the apology down. She refused.