'Cruelty masked as journalism': Why did actress Lakshmi Manchu file a complaint with the Telangana Film Chamber of Commerce?

While promoting her latest film, Telugu actress Lakshmi Manchu encountered an unpleasant situation when a senior journalist questioned the "dressing sense" of a 47-year-old woman. Lakshmi countered by asking if he would pose the same question to a middle-aged male superstar like Mahesh Babu, and the journalist admitted he would not. She has since filed a complaint with the Telangana Film Chamber of Commerce, calling out the journalist's behaviour and demanding an apology.

In her complaint, 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 many young women who look up to me to call this out. I will always be open to tough questions, to criticism, and to scrutiny as a public figure. But I will not tolerate cruelty masked as journalism. Respect is not optional. Accountability is not negotiable."

Before filing her complaint, Lakshmi released a longer statement, calling the journalist's remarks "belittling" and suggestive of "ageism" and "body shaming."

She wrote, "His questions had no intent of understanding my work; they were designed only to provoke, demean, and diminish," while adding that the interviewer's mode of questioning cannot be called "journalism" or "critique" but rather "a blatant attempt to go 'viral' at the cost of another person's dignity."

Lakshmi's latest release is Daksha: The Deadly Conspiracy, directed by Vamsee Krishna Malla and co-starring her father, Mohan Babu, P. Samuthirakani, and Chitra Shukla.  It's produced jointly by Lakshmi and Mohan Babu.