BOMBAY Tickets were sold out Friday for the national release of the long-awaited "Bollywood" blockbuster, "Chori Chori Chupke Chupke", which has been mired in controversy over allegations of Mafia funding, AFP said.

As the big-budget production was released across India, the film's financier, producer and director were all in jail facing criminal charges.

The film, which translates as "on the quiet, hush hush" and stars some of Bollywood's biggest names, had to be released under the supervision of a Bombay court.

Reports on Friday said distribution and audio, videocasette rights of the film had been sold for 150 million rupees (3.3 million dollars) a day before its release.

The film stars Salman Khan, Rani Mukherjee and Preity Zinta and was due for release in December when the allegations of Mafia funding surfaced.

Bombay police arrested Nadeem Rizvi, the film's producer, in December for allegedly using underworld money to finance the film.

The film's financier Bharat Shah -- a top diamond merchant -- was arrested a month later on similar charges, sending shock waves through the film industry that impacted on the stock markets.

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday refused bail to Shah, saying his co-accused had implicated him.

Police have since questioned Salman Khan, Rani Mukherjee and matinee idol Shahrukh Khan in a wide-ranging probe into the underworld's hold on the film industry.

Shah, Rizvi and the film's director are being tried by a local court that deals with cases of organized crime.

Bombay police seized the prints of the film and refused to allow its release till the case was over, but the court ordered its release under a distributor it had appointed.

In New Delhi, moviegoers turned up in large numbers for the film's first screening at 12:00 noon (05:30 GMT).

About 30 uniformed and plainclothes police were posted outside one theater where around a dozen activists from a right-wing Hindu group had planned a protest against the screening of a film tainted with underworld money.

The demonstration was quickly broken up before they could reach the movie hall, where the theater manager reported booming ticket sales, AFP reported.