There is evil inside me: Lakshmi Manchu
It is not often that an Indian actor with a Hollywood presence comes India calling. The trend, after all, is for actors back home to try and get to Hollywood. But doing just that is Lakshmi Manchu, Telugu star Mohan Babu’s daughter, who’s signed up to play the lead negative role in the Telugu film Anaganaga-O-Dheerudu, which is produced by a Hollywood production house. This will also be Lakshmi’s first major role in an Indian movie. What took the actress, who’s been doing American television since 2006, this long to make the move? “I was busy with Hollywood. I wanted to have my own identity and not be known as the daughter of a star. I was raised in Chennai and didn’t know how famous my dad was until I was in class 11,” she says. It was only after she went to the US to pursue higher education that the acting bug bit her, says Lakshmi. “I was passionate about acting and auditioned for roles like any other girl. I didn’t know what a headshot was or how to get an agent or a manager. But that’s how I know it was my talent that got me roles and not my connections,” she says.
Anaganaga-O-Dheerudhu will see Lakshmi co-star with Siddharth and Shruthi Haasan. “I play the lead negative role. It’s a fantasy film and there is no animation involved. While the original movie is in Telugu, the film will have a worldwide release and will be dubbed in other languages,” she reveals. But was she wary, given that her Telugu debut is with a negative role? “Negative characters have more interesting roles. Also, there is a certain evil inside me and as a performer, I believe I can do the role with conviction,” says a confident Lakshmi. And despite her experience with television, the Indian small screen is not her calling, says Lakshmi. “If I do that, I’d compare it to the standards of Hollywood and that wouldn’t be fair. The soap operas here are very different from the west and I do not see myself in saas-bahu serials,” she maintains.
