Telugu actress and producer Lakshmi Manchu is all chuffed about a still from her first film, ‘Anaganaga O Dheerudu’ (2011), accompanying an article by Meher Tatna on the Golden Globes website.

Tatna, a journalist who writes for ‘The New Paper’, Singapore, is former president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which organises the Golden Globes. Her article, which appeared on May 17, is titled ‘Tollywood – Telugu Cinema in India’.

Appreciating the article, which sheds light on the phenomenal growth of Tollywood, Lakshmi Manchu underlined the need for all regional language industries to be recognised as a unified Indian film industry.

Taking to Instagram Reels to share her thoughts, Lakshmi Manchu emphasised the need to acknowledge the diverse nature of the Indian film industry.

She said: “Just one thought here that I want to put forth, especially to the western world. India is a multicultural and multilingual nation. There are as many film industries as there are languages.

“Punjabi, Bengali, Gujarati, Odia, Bhojpuri and Assamese language industries are also thriving in their own right. I feel the industry and the nation as a whole, must come out of the woodwork and be perceived as one.

“We are the Indian Film Industry. It is one big family and every member has their unique significance to make this Indian film industry tick.”

Lakshmi Manchu drew attention to the robust financial health of the Indian film industry when considered as one.

The article quoted impressive turnover figures of $212 million and $197 million for the Telugu and Tamil film industries, respectively, but when combined, just these numbers, without counting Bollywood, reached $409 million, Lakshmi Manchu pointed out.

And, she stressed, these figures did not even account for the many other languages and regional industries, underscoring the immense significance of the Indian industry, when counted as a whole.