BLAME it on Hrithik Roshan's inflated price-tag for his television debut. Sony Entertainment, it is reliably learnt, cannot afford Rishi Kapoor.

The price that he's quoting to the channel for his maiden appearance on television sent the channel officials reeling under the impact.

A source said: "We secretly refer to it as the Colors syndrome. The channel Colors has ruined the stars' menu card by paying Salman Khan whatever he wanted on Bigg Boss.

They also got Abhishek Bachchan for Bingo which was a fiasco. Now whether it is Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan or Rishi Kapoor everyone wants a price commensurate with Salman Khan's price on Bigg Boss."

Undoubtedly Salman is today the highest-paid star on television. The rest of the staggering star-prices are all hearsay and make-belief.

A prominent source from the television industry describes Hrithik's purported Rs 112 crore takeaway salary for Just Dance as "unreasonable and ludicrous, and suspiciously made-up."

A source said: "It's quick money for stars. But not half as big as the prices being quoted by the stars' PR machinery.

Barring Salman Khan, who is today the biggest Bollywood star on television, no star is making the kind of money they are reported to be."

This source assumes that Hrithik is getting, "perhaps Rs 2 crores per day not per episode. That means anything between two to three episodes per day.

He's also contract-bound to shoot four to five music videos for Just Dance. When the aam aadmi reads these mind-boggling figures they tend to believe it.

These figures do great things for the stars' image. But they are hampering our negotiations with other stars who throw these delusional star prices on the channel officials' faces."