Lakshmi Manchu: Speaking your mind is picking a fight

Lakshmi Manchu does not pay attention to the haters because she believes she is not in the business of making everybody like her.

Lakshmi Manchu is not afraid to speak her mind, but that doesn’t come without repercussions. The actor says she has come to realise that haters will continue to hate irrespective of what she does, and confesses that she is not “in the business of making everybody like” her.

Actor Lakshmi Manchu is very vocal about her opinions and always makes it a point to share them on social media.

The actor, who has starred in Telugu as well as English films, has spoken up about a lot issues about women. In fact, she was one of the first few celebrities to slam the media trails of actor Rhea Chakraborty, who was accused of abetment to suicide in the death of late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput

“Speaking your mind is literally picking a fight because people are so intolerant,” Manchu tells us, adding, “What I have realised is that haters are going to hate. People who don’t know me are going to hate me for what they think that I should be, or when people have an opinion about how celebrities should be or should behave.”

The actor says that she chooses to look at the brighter side. “Some love my clothes, some don’t. Some love the way I speak, some don’t. I cannot be in the business of making everybody like me. I can only like me for what I am and stand up for what I believe in. I can’t pay attention to the haters. I have a lot of love supporting and surrounding me. So, I choose to look at that.”

Ask her if detaching is that easy, she mentions one learns with time. “When you are beaten up pretty badly, healing teaches you these things… When you heal from the hurt that has been caused and the learning that happens with being a celebrity or people taking advantage of you or violating your space, and sometimes not knowing how to draw boundaries. You learn, and you learn pretty quickly,” says the Basmati Blues (2017) and Kaatrin Mozhi (2018) actor.

The daughter of Telugu cinema’s veteran actor Mohan Babu, Manchu feels that as a celebrity, she has a responsibility to use her voice to leverage things that matter.

“We are given this voice, where so many people want to be in our place . So many people want to be in my place where I am standing and to be where I am. I should make the most of it and spread as much joy as possible. I have to admit that I’m addicted to that. I am addicted to spreading joy because it gives me so much joy,” she concludes.