A bevvy of stars turned up in Dubai for the SIIMA 2025 held over the weekend. Many stars also clicked selfies with fans while walking the red carpet to the award ceremony. Lakshmi Manchu even confronted a troll and asked them to say it to her face. Here’s what happened.

Lakshmi Manchu confronts troll

In a video shared by an Instagram page, Lakshmi is seen dressed in red and taking selfies with fans. When she heard a troll say something that couldn’t be heard on the video, she turned around to challenge them and said, “Naa mundu vachi matladu ra, evaru vadu? Time, sense ledu meeku, rascals. (Who said that? Come and say it to my face. You rascals don’t have any sense.)”

After clicking selfies with fans who lovingly kept calling her ‘Manchu akka’ (elder sister), she was walking away before another set of fans stopped her. She signalled that she couldn’t hear them to make them cheer for her. Lakshmi even inquired about the name of a little girl while clicking a selfie with her, and also stopped for another child she saw on the way. She remarked at the end of the video that even in Mumbai, there have been Telugu photographers who call her akka.

Recent work

Lakshmi moved to Mumbai in 2023 with her daughter, Vidya Nirvana, to work on projects beyond Tollywood. She was last seen in the 2024 film Adiparvam and JioHotstar show Yakshini. This year, she was one of the contestants on the Prime Video show The Traitors India, hosted by Karan Johar. She was ‘murdered’ in the third episode and was not on the show for long.

Talking about moving to Mumbai in an interview with Hindustan Times, she said, “Mumbai has grabbed my heart. Every day is new, offering a new perspective with new people and challenges. It has kept me grounded. Hyderabad is home, and I miss my family, friends and the khaana (food) there. But I’m glad that I can also fly home anytime I want and experience the best of both worlds.”