Lakshmi Manchu Slams Double Standards After Being Asked About Dressing Style at 47

Telugu actress Lakshmi Manchu has expressed strong displeasure after a journalist questioned her style of dressing at the age of 47, especially given that she is a mother. During an interview for Great Andhra, she was asked whether moving to Mumbai had influenced her wardrobe choices. Lakshmi responded by saying that she had lived in America earlier, then moved back to Hyderabad and now Mumbai, and that she had “worked hard to look the way she does,” adding that her appearance gives her the confidence to dress how she wants.

When pressed further, she asked if the journalist would similarly ask actor Mahesh Babu, who is fifty, why he chooses to go shirtless. She challenged, “How dare you ask me that question? Would you say, ‘Mahesh Babu, you are 50 now why are you going shirtless?’ Then how do you ask a woman the same thing?” She called on journalists to be more responsible about the questions they pose.

The journalist admitted that he would likely not ask a male actor such a question, and defended his line of questioning by noting public comments about her social media appearance. Lakshmi retorted that her answer wasn’t yet finished, and that unlike men, women often face consequences for personal choices including career setbacks or societal judgment. She remarked that a superstar’s wife once lost film offers after her divorce because of associations with her ex‑husband, underscoring that women do not typically enjoy the same freedom and must often fight for it themselves.