Actor Manoj Manchu today met with the media for a candid conversation. He opened up about his new social initiative, Aikya Dhairya Sena Samithi. He also shared updates on his upcoming movie projects (particularly David Reddy), business ventures, and personal insights. Here is the interaction structured entirely in direct speech.
We wanted to go statewide. We started with blood camps. The first camp was at Kukatpally in Hyderabad. Then we went to Kurnool, Kakinada, Tirupati, and Vizag. This initiative will continue. I really want to keep it going. It will be a platform for people who want to give back to society. It will become a voice for the voiceless. I believe that staying divided will end badly for us. We were divided by the British. We must stay united. That is why we chose the word Aikya. We want to hold deep respect and responsibility for this trust.
We named the organization after our children, Dhairav and Devasena. This samithi is like our own child. We will bring it up with great care and concern. Currently, we have no fixed agenda or protocols. We are looking for professionals to shape everything. We started in an unorganized way. Now we are structuring it properly. We are open to helping with everything. People are already reaching out to us for support. For example, we had an influencers meet yesterday. They told me that big creators strike their videos when they speak up. They even get threatening calls. I assured them that our organization will stand by them. We will take legal action. We will safeguard their freedom of speech. We will not step back on these issues.
We are funding this on our own for now. We will figure out future funding later. If we grow beyond our capacity, we will raise funds. There is absolutely no political agenda behind this. We have done social service for a very long time. It was just time to turn it into an organized platform. It will serve Telugu people everywhere. I am not a superhero. I cannot be available to everyone all the time. I have my own life to handle. That is why this trust was formed. It functions regardless of my presence. We will absolutely be a voice for the voiceless. This includes standing up for women's issues. I always stand up for women. I do not need to mention it separately. We will officially announce the trust contact numbers, emails, and rules on June 7th. This will happen during the grand opening ceremony of my movie Rakshak.
I am just an actor. Nothing more. There is no question of newly entering politics. I was born into it. I am always on the side of the people. My wife Mounika will definitely enter direct politics. She will actively contest in the next elections.
I stopped signing films in 2016 because too many people were getting involved. Now, I am the only person who makes decisions for myself. The choices are solely mine. My wife Mounika supports me completely. However, we do not make decisions for each other. If you want to know about my family issues, you should ask the people involved.
My birthday is always very special to me. I usually celebrate it with Jr NTR garu. I also used to celebrate with the legendary Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry gaaru. We miss him very badly now. He remains immortal to us.
My movie Rakshak will be launched on June 7. It is a brilliant story about women empowerment written by director Naveen. He has worked on this script for three years and is making his debut. I play a top cop in the film. The movie shows how to handle specific social issues.
David Reddy has completed 40% of the shoot. It is a massive, large-scale project. The filmmakers Hunman Reddy and Venu Acharya are not compromising on anything. We just finished a 20-day schedule in Indore. The Chief Minister and the official authorities took great care of us. I thank the Indore government and the MP for their incredible support. A special glimpse of the film will be released in a couple of days. That will do all the talking.
My music album Mohana Raga is also coming out really well. We are working with excellent musicians and technicians. Four songs have already been recorded. Four more are left. It will take another two to three months to release. Unfortunately, the movie What The Fish is cancelled. Satya, Vennela Kishore, and I were very excited about it. We tried our best, but it did not work out due to casting issues. Regarding my physical transformation, it was highly challenging. It is always hard to control yourself during the first three weeks of a transformation. Once you cross that initial phase, you are good to go.
We own a company named Namasthe Toys, and the brand is Namasthe World. My wife, Mounika, is launching it in the Telugu states and Bengaluru. We will start with sports toys. It is designed to be a major platform. We will share complete details within a couple of weeks. Mounika will speak about it herself.
