Actress Lakshmi Manchu, daughter of Telugu film veteran Mohan Babu, revealed that her family was the biggest hurdle when she decided to move from Hyderabad to Mumbai. Despite their discouragement, she made the move in 2023 and has been actively meeting Hindi filmmakers in Mumbai since then.

When asked about the ‘hurdles’ she faced while shifting her house from Hyderabad, the actress told Free Press Journal, “There was only one hurdle, my family.” She added, “They didn’t allow me to move anywhere else for a very long time. We are a very close-knit family. They would say, ‘Why are you a small fish in a big pond?’ They had their own concerns. I used to stay at my best friend Rakul Preet’s house and she would constantly insist that I move to Mumbai.”

Lakshmi recalled that her friend, actor Rana Daggubati, explained to her that she cannot always stay in Hyderabad and needs to move out. However, her father Mohan Babu, who is an influential figure in the Telugu film industry, initially discouraged her from pursuing a career as an actor.

“Men in the South don’t like the hero’s sister or daughter becoming an actress. They shy away from casting people like us. Prakash introduced me to films, but my father and his father tried to get the idea out of our minds,” she said.

Calling herself a “victim of patriarchy”, Laxmi said, “I had to fight for things that my brothers get easily. It happened to me too. We are a patriarchal society, we have to expose it rather than acknowledge it. It exists not only in the South industry but in all parts of the country. We live in Mumbai so we are very lucky but the reality is beyond our understanding.”

After moving to Mumbai in 2023, Lakshmi Manchu wrote on X, “New city, new era. So grateful for this life. Thank you to all my fans for always supporting me and believing in me. #Mumbai.”

Lakshmi Manchu was last seen in Mohanlal’s film ‘Monster’, which marked her debut in the Malayalam film industry.