If you have watched the trailer of Srinu Vaitla’s upcoming film Mister then you might have noticed a little Polish boy mouthing Telugu dialogues fluently! But this isn’t the only claim to fame that the seven-year-old Zbigniew — known as Bujji at home — has. He’s also called Zac these days, which is short for Zbigniew Acharya Chertlur.
For a long time now, Bujji has been garnering attention on social media with his rendition of Telugu classics like Neeve Na (which had gone viral with over four lakh views on Facebook) and Na Hrudayam Lo Nidurinche Cheli among many others. NTR’s famous dialogue, Emantivi Emantivi is yet another of his famous renditions. What’s surprising everyone, though, is the interest of the “tella abbayi” in Telugu cinema. It helps that Bujji has got his own little Telugu connect. His father, Sharath Chertluru, is a Hyderabadi who moved to Europe nearly two decades ago, where he eventually met the Polish lady Ula, Bujji’s mom.
“When he was just two-and-a-half years old, I realised that he had an amazing memory power. He was singing a Spanish song he had heard randomly, and he didn’t even know the language,”says Sharath, Zac’s father. “By the age of three and a half, Bujji knew names of countries and their capitals, could name discoveries and that’s when I first taught him the shlokam Suklam Baradharam. He learnt it very quickly! Since then, I continued teaching him Telugu songs. He doesn’t understand the language, but easily grasps the lyrics,” shares Sharath.
Bujji claims to be a Pawan Kalyan fan because of his “good fighting”. In fact, he recently watched the actor’s latest release Katamarayudu, and shares that he was blown away by the movie and loved the song, Jivvu Jivvu. “I also like Chiranjeevi, Mahesh Babu, Salman Khan and Varun Tej. When we were working together, he specially ordered a pizza for me,” he says talking of Varun Tej, soon after he starts singing Ye Divi Lo Veesina Parijatamo.
Mister might be his debut in a feature film, but Bujji has starred in several commercials across Europe. In fact, his father Sharath is a photographer himself and has been instrumental in giving the little boy a presence on social media. “He can browse what he likes but of course, we monitor him. He’s also got immense knowledge about Indian mythology only through online search. He bought his own Xbox too with his earnigns. We are so proud! He loves Facebook. In fact, it was through social media that writer Gopi Mohan spotted him and eventually Mister happened,” he explains.
Studying in class III in a school in London, Bujji already knows what he wants to do when he grows up — become an actor. His father tells us that he makes short films too! “He has a camcorder which he uses to shoot films on his own. I am the scapegoat as I have to star in them!” says Sharath, with a laugh. He adds, “He sings well and we’ll soon train him in Carnatic music. Let’s see where destiny takes him.”
