There has been a big run for the tickets for tonight's premiere and two subsequent repeat screenings in the Berlinale Special section since the ticket sales for the public was opened three days ago.

No other film at the outset of the 11-day Berlinale has created such a big interest as the Indian entry, festival organisers responsible for ticket sales told PTI.

Tickets for all the three screenings have now been sold out, he said.

Public demands for tonight's German premiere has been so great that even many accredited journalists were denied permission to attend the event, something which rarely happens at the Berlinale, they said.

Berlinale officials said the public interest for Om Shanti Om, directed by Farah Khan, has been amazing because the film enthusiasts are not only interested in watching the film, but also to get a glimpse of Shah Rukh Khan, who is scheduled to answer questions from the audience after the premiere.

Besides attending the premiere, Shah Rukh Khan will also address a press conference at the Berlinale press centre and participate in a panel discussion at the Berlinale Talent Campus.

Om Shanti Om was given a very enthusiastic reception by the media representatives covering the Festival at a press screening held here last night.

Film critics praised the film as a fascinating tribute to the mainstream Hindi cinema of the 1970s. In her directorial debut, ace choreographer Farah Khan "has fashioned a dazzling love letter to the great Hindi spectacles of the 70s that fans out, via a hokey tale of reincarnation, into a celebration of the same values in a contemporary Bollywood envelope," leading international film magazine Variety wrote in a review on the film.

Variety said that with a reported release of 2,000 prints Om Shanti Om "is claimed to be the biggest day-and-date international release" in the history of the mainstream Hindi cinema.

"And with one number alone that features cameo appearances by 31 Bollywood stars, past and present, the film has a wow factor unequalled by any Hindi film in memory," Variety wrote.

Om Shanti Om will raise the curtain for Berlinale Special, a new section which was created last year as part of the festival's main competition section "to present works by contemporary filmmakers whose films the Berlinale would like to honour."

It was aimed at presenting the festival audience a fascinating insight into the diversity of films produced around the world by presenting a blend of films of recollections, information and experiment, according to the festival.

This year's Berlinale Special will present twelve films. Among them are Eye to Eye - All About German Film, a documentary by Hans Helmut Prinzler on 100 years of German film history and Trip to Asia, a documentary by Thomas Grube of Germany on the Asian concert tour of the Berlin Philharmonic.