Till about a couple of years back not much was heard about the concept of paid previews in India. Then came a few films that decided to take the plunge and saw a single late night show being run at select multiplexes a day before the official release of the film.

However, GHAJINI completely changed the dynamics of paid previews as it saw number of paid previews being run at practically all multiplexes across the country a day before the release, something that not just helped the film gain additional moolah but also some terrific mileage and word of mouth prior to the official release.

Of course, a step like this comes with it's risks since there are chances of the move backfiring in case of the film being bad but then GHAJINI was super confident about it's equity and went ahead to take the plunge.

Now CHANDNI CHOWK TO CHINA, the biggest and the widest release of 2009, has also shown such confidence and has decided to take a full-on approach with a late evening release on Thursday, 15th January.

With huge demand for the film which is showing an exponential rise practically every day, the film will be shown on as many as 650 paid preview shows across the country on Thursday.

Says a source attached to the film, "Paid previews have opened just a couple of days back and the advance booking is already on the same scale as that of GHAJINI.

We won't be surprised if these shows fetch us better collections than what GHAJINI did during the paid previews. In fact at FAME chain of theaters, there would be 45 shows on Thursday night."

Apparently, the film's prospects are not just restricted to multiplexes since single screen theaters too are showing great demands.

At Jodhpur, Thursday paid previews are said to be sold out for the entire theater that comprises of 1000 seats. "When a film is so strong at single screens, it is but natural that it would do well all over", says the source hopefully.