Manjula Ghattamaneni is an Indian businesswoman, actor, producer, and director, who has worked in several well-known Telugu films. She is known to be the daughter of the Telugu superstar Krishna, who died on 15 November 2022 in a hospital in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. [4]NDTV.After completing her formal education, Manjula Ghattamaneni began working as an assistant director with her father. In 1990, she assisted Krishna in directing the Telugu films Balachandrudu and Anna Thammudu.Later, Manjula Ghattamaneni expressed her desire of pursuing a career as an actor; however, her father rejected the idea of her becoming an actress. After her idea was rejected by her father, Manjula continued to work with her father as an Assistant Director. Talking about it in a blog post, she said, My interest in acting became a strong desire now. Gathering all my guts, I broke the news to my dad and family that I want to be an actress. They told me firmly that under no circumstances can this happen. So, I continued my journey as an assistant director.”.While working as an Assistant Director, Manjula prepared a portfolio of herself and showed it to her father after which she once again requested him to let her become an actress. This time, however, her father accepted her request and publically announced that he would be launching her as an actress in a film. The announcement of Manjula becoming an actress did not go well with the public, who resented it as a result of which Krishna had to withdraw the announcement.Later, Manjula shifted to Bombay, where she, with the help of a friend, tried to circulate her photographs in different advertisement agencies to get a break.Later, Krishna announced that he would launch Manjula in a film; however, he once again had to take back the announcement as it received public criticism. Talking about it, she said, Realizing how much it meant to me to be an actress, once again, my dad planned my movie career as an actress. He set up a great project and made an announcement again that I was going to be acting. The minute the news was out, thousands of my dad’s fans came to his studio with black clothes and kerosene bottles, saying that they were going to burn themselves if he did not take back the announcement he made about me. Padmalaya studio was filled with fans staging a dharna. My dad had no choice but to take back the announcement.”.Later, Manjula received an acting offer; however, it could not materialise as her brother Mahesh Babu was about to make a debut as a lead actor in the Telugu film industry.In 1998, Manjula made her acting debut with the Malayalam film Summer in Bethlehem, where she played the role of a character named Aparna.Later, she founded Indira Productions after which she produced and acted in the Telugu film Show. The film was awarded the National Film Award for being the Best Feature Film in 2001.In 2004, Manjula produced Naani, a Telugu film featuring Mahesh Babu and Ameesha Patel. The film, however, was a flop. Talking about the film, Manjula said, I put a project together with the powerhouse of the best talents onboard- Mahesh Babu, AR Rahman, Ameesha Patel, and S J Surya. I didn’t imagine even in my wildest dreams that this movie would be a flop. So when it flopped, it hurt me. Failure hurts badly.” A poster of Naani.