Lowers price to return to his position as host of Khatron Ke Khiladi; his promos air tonight

After much drama and name-tossing, Akshay Kumar will host Khatron Ke Khiladi 4. The actor flexes his muscles and packs a punch in his first teaser that airs tonight at prime-time.

Sunil Manchanda's MAD Production has created the first look. They are the same guys who shot the Salman Khan promos for Bigg Boss 4. Marco Kalantri directs Akki while Niharika Khan styles him in the teaser.

Back to South Africa

Akshay hosted the first two seasons of the reality show which were shot in South Africa while Priyanka Chopra anchored the third season filmed in Brazil. Akshay returns to SA for the fourth outing of the drama.

The competition

The Khiladi's return was announced initially for the fourth season, followed by news that the likes of Salman and Ajay Devgn had been approached.

A source says, "Akshay was paid Rs 1.5 crore per episode for the first season which was upped in the second round. This time around, the price he quoted was too high and he refused to negotiate."

Ajay Devgn was then seen as a possible replacement. "Ajay was negotiating the price and terms of the contract, when the channel went and leaked it out to Akshay that they had approached Devgn.

Akki immediately renegotiated his price and cut it down, so Devgn was left out while Akki came on board again."

Conveniently yours

The channel still wasn't happy with Akshay's terms and sent feelers to Salman ('Khiladi Khan'; HiTLIST; March 21). They wanted to shoot in Bangkok. That Sallu was already shooting there at the time, helped.

When talks were on with Salman, the Khiladi came to know that Sallu had been approached and was upset. The channel remained non-committal saying it was too early to talk about it.

Backtracked

While in London shooting, Kumar continued renegotiations. Finally, a consensus was reached and an agreement reached (the price is much less compared to his earlier remunerations) and that's why the channel yesterday officially decided to release a statement and air the promos. Wonder how low Akki has stooped to conquer?

Veena Malik IN KKK4?

Among the female contestants approached for KKK4 include Bigg Boss 4 inmate Veena Malik. The Pakistani actress has yet to ink the deal. Maria Goretti was also approached but she declined the offer.