When Rani Mukerji was to co-star with Ben Affleck

There was a time when our desi filmmakers would ambitiously announce films with A-listers from Hollywood.

- Subhash K Jha

Now, of course, they can't do it—they get sued for it.

Dev (Split Wide Open) Benegal was all set to team Rani Mukerji with, ahem, Ben Affleck.

Benegal (no relation to Shyam) had told this writer, "It's a romantic comedy with three characters—a man, a woman, and an Ambassador car—in English, entitled Bombay California. It'll feature Rani Mukerji with either Ben Affleck or Ethan Hawke."