On September 16, actor and producer Lakshmi Manchu filed a complaint with the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce (TFCC) over alleged ageist and body-shaming remarks she faced during the promotions of her film, Daksha: The Deadly Conspiracy. She said that the incident happened on September 15 when an interview with a journalist for a local Telugu channel turned into a 20-minute ordeal where the questions centred on her appearance, clothes, and age.   

In her complaint, terming the interview as “an attack”, Manchu wrote, “Instead of engaging with the film, the craft, or the effort behind bringing this project to life, he chose to belittle me — targeting my age, my body, my clothes... His questions had no intent of understanding my work; they were designed only to provoke, demean, and diminish.” She ended the letter by urging the chamber to take disciplinary action against the journalist.