HYDERABAD: Actor Lakshmi Manchu is high; high on adrenaline we mean. Right now, she is hosting the adventure show, Zee Heroes, on Zee Telugu (Sunday 9 pm), in which the participants are attempting some daredevil stunts. The actor spoke to Express from Pattaya in Thailand about being an adrenaline junkie, her daughter and more.
Speaking about her experience on the sets of the new show, the actor said: “It has been one of the most exciting experiences ever. When you are doing a movie, you have a scene, a song, a fight sequence and so on, but this show has been high on energy every day. It was all intense – we were fighting, we were falling in love, we were working for long hours. We are excited about how the show is looking now. This is the first time that such a show is being made on a Telugu channel. Every stunt in the show was choreographed from scratch. We built and assembled the equipment ourselves and the stunt directors were working round the clock.”
Is Lakshmi an adrenaline junkie herself? The actor replies with a big ‘yes’. “I like anything that pushes my mind, body and thought, and thus this is a perfect show for me. Though I have been coming to Pattaya since my childhood, you learn something new at different phases of your life. As an artiste, it’s beautiful to experience the culture of a place, not only by living there, but working there. I love skydiving and scuba diving.”
Revealing a simple trick to keep the energy levels of the participants high all the time, she says, “You just have to say ‘camera!’. All fatigue vanishes in a moment.”When we ask how she de-stresses, the actor says, “Doing yoga takes your fears and stress away. I go to Mumbai and stay there for a few days to practise Aerial Yoga. For a person like me who likes living on the edge and juggling multiple tasks, yoga is the best way to get feel reinvigorated. I fell in love with yoga in America, and I made sure I practise it here. It’s Indian wisdom and it’s so necessary that we embrace it.”
Sharing her views on motherhood, the actor says, “I have to be the person I am for my daughter, and not the best mother, because my version of the best mother might differ from yours. I am going to teach my daughter to be the best person for herself, not for anyone else. My daughter, job, family - all are parts of me, not the whole of me. You just have to find that balance, and I truly believe that if you want to really do something, you will find a way.”