I had high expectations of Ram Gopal Varma's Contract because it was directed by the man, who gave us some great movies based on the underworld like Satya [Images] and Company.

Unfortunately, Contract is a badly-made and disappointing film, way below the standards set by the director himself.

Though the film's promos claim that the film is about terrorism, Contract is essentially about a war between two underworld gangs. He tries his best to relate the two -- the second half may even take you back to the serial train blasts two years ago -- but RGV is on familiar ground.

Contract opens with Aman Mallik (Adhvik Mahajan), who is arrested and taken to the jail. He takes you on a flashback, pouring light on how he landed there.

Aman is an ex-army official, who quit the army for his family. He with wife, Divya (Amruta Khanvilkar), and daughter lead a happy life. Police officer Ahmad Hussain (Prasad Purandare) trains Aman to join the underworld as an undercover agent and break the two gangs, headed by Goonga and RD. So Aman becomes Amaan Ali Yusuf and goes to jail.

He becomes popular in jail, and gets RD's attention, who bails him out. Amaan gets his entry in to RD's camp, and then the bloodshed starts.

In the midst of all the action, a love story between Amaan and Iya (RD's sister), gets boring and distracting.

Adhvik has done well. But he cannot play the tough boy with his boy-next-door looks. He tries very hard, and the effort shows. Yet, Adhvik has the potential to do better in other roles.

RGV has drawn some great performances from the rest of the cast too.

Television actress Shama Sikander adds glam with her item number. The film's music is good too, and suitable.

One wishes that RGV did not have a fetish for holding the camera an inch away from the actors. The extreme close-ups, which have been seen in most of his recent movies, takes away from the film.

Rediff Rating: