Associated Press

New Delhi, May 23:

Police boosted security at cinemas in New Delhi today as they investigated bombs that killed at least one person and wounded 50 at two theatres showing a film condemned by Sikhs.

Another explosion today injured one man, but it was unclear if it was linked to the cinema blasts. The cinema bombs struck 15 minutes apart late yesterday at theatres showing the Hindi-language film Jo Bole So Nihal, which Sikh leaders have said offends their faith by showing a Sikh character chased by scantily clad women. “Security has been stepped up at cinema halls,” Home Minister Shivraj Patil said today. But by today, every cinema that had been showing the movie in New Delhi had apparently pulled it off its screens. In Mumbai, police increased security at theatres where the movie was still being shown. Monday’s blast in New Delhi occurred when the man opened a handbag he found near a railway crossing in a suburb of the capital. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today visited the hospital where many of the injured were being treated. At least 43 people were wounded in the first blast, around 8:30 pm, at the Liberty Cinema. One of those hurt died later at a hospita. About 15 minutes later, a bomb went off in the bathroom of the nearby Satyam Cinema, wounding at least seven people.

Producer reacts

MUMBAI: NR Pachisia, the producer of Jo Bole So Nihaal can’t understand what the fuss is all about. “My film was cleared by the censor board twice. It was also cleared by the Akal Takht, which is for the Sikhs what the Vatican is for the Roman Catholics,” Pachisia said. “My hero’s name in Nihaal. The chant Jo Bole So Nihaal, which seem to have raised hackles, is a war cry for the Sikhs and not part of the holy book of the Sikhs, the Guru Granth, as is being claimed.”

— HNS