“Ooh la la” seems to be Bollywood’s favourite phrase these days. After Vidya Balan burned up the screen in her pink beaded outfit even as Naseeruddin Shah crooned Ooh La La, it is now Ali Zafar’s turn to sing the same tune in his upcoming film, London Paris New York. He’d just like to clarify one point though: His Ooh La La was in the pipeline much before Vidya’s Ooh La La.
Says Ali, who was last seen in Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, “I had actually put together this song much before Ooh La La from The Dirty Picture started making waves. In any case, our song is totally different. It is set in Paris and is basically inspired by a phrase Parisians commonly use: Ooh la la. When you hear the song, you’ll see that it has a completely different identity.”
Sources in the know say that the fact that the two songs are so completely different is a clear enough indication that neither has borrowed anything from the other. “While Vishal-Shekhar’s Ooh La La had to have a very ‘80s feel to fit the retro theme of The Dirty Picture, Ali’s song is more contemporary. It has elements of trance, underground house, Sufi and pop and features two popular female Pakistani vocalists, Hadiya Kiyani and Sanam Marvi.”
Our source added that Ali has written, composed and sung the song and it was at his insistence that Hadiya and Sanam were roped in.