Lakshmi Manchu shifts base to Mumbai: ‘In Hyderabad, people stand up when I walk in, here I’ve to re-introduce myself’

“My brother used to live with me, but he moved out after he got married. Suddenly, there was an emptiness within me. I was talking to Rana (Daggubatti) one day, he was talking about his business very passionately, and it struck me, ‘What am I doing? Is this going to be the rest of my life?’ I thought back home, I got too big for the pond, I couldn’t swim, explore, experiment. For 10 years I was in Hyderabad.”

She continued, “I was also fearful of what will dad say, people say, if I decide to shift base. I thought, ‘Am I going to regret coming here, or regret not coming here?’ The answer was clear. For example, I was in Hyderabad where the garden in my house needed attention, I had 10 people to maintain the house, but it was somehow holding me back. There I was fluttering, now I feel like I am flying. I am excited about the newness now.”

After giving it “serious thought”, Lakshmi decided to put things in motion and booked tickets to Mumbai. The first task at hand was to find a school for her daughter, and then, the biggest of all, a house in the city. “Rakul Preet Singh, who is a very close friend of mine, saw over 100 apartments before finalising one. So, I gave myself one week, where I focused only on apartment search and nothing else. I found this place in Bandra within a week.”

The actor said that the real challenge will begin now that she is finally in Mumbai, as almost everyone around her was against the idea of leaving the comfort of a legacy film family in Hyderabad and moving to a new city as a rank outsider.

“This is going to be a new challenge, speaking Hindi, doing shows in this language. I was on American shows, then did South films. I get bored too quickly, I am a gypsy, so what’s next fuels me. You can’t stay in one place. Everybody told me, ‘No, how can you leave Hyderabad?’ I walk in and people stand up. They were like, ‘Now you want to go to a new city and re-introduce yourself?’

“But I said that will keep me humbled, drive me to be a real artiste. Who knew I was Mohan Babu’s daughter in Los Angeles? If I could do it there, I can do it here. I know what I bring to the table, but I now need to move forward. As much as I love my work in Telugu, it is still one language. Unless I am here, it is not going to be global.”

Because of her film lineage, Lakshmi said that she has seen how easily people get complacent as they start earning money, becoming famous and eventually getting used to a certain comfort. “But that’s not me. I wanted to shake things up, but I am also sacred. Making my base here and starting anew keeps me on the edge. My goal is do work here. If I want to get papped, I can, because all my friends are celebrities but that’s not the intention. I am an industry person, every new girl that comes to Hyderabad meets me. From there I am coming here, not just as an actor but also as a creator to hopefully put movies and shows together, eventually,” she added.