Shadow play

Andy Lau is facing the biggest dilemma of his career. He loves to keep up the facade of being a happy-go-lucky bachelor, yet custom mandates he perform certain tasks that contradict that appearance.

The Hong Kong superstar, in his blog, used the term "ancestor" to refer to the father of his long-rumored girlfriend Carol Chu. The older Chu died of a brain hemorrhage last Tuesday and Lau had to perform funeral rites, as befits a son-in-law, at the funeral. Though nobody could verify his attendance at the funeral procession because there was a sea of umbrellas - on a rainless day- Lau was presumably hidden behind one of them.

Monday was the seventh day after old Chu's death. It marked a milestone in the Chinese tradition of mourning. By now the Chinese-language media was playing a game called: "Can you spot Andy Lau?" The Malaysian media had a major coup: First Lau was seen leaving Chu's house with several of her family members; and then blurry photos surfaced of Lau burning incense and paying his respects at Chu's grave.