Who were Bollywood's best actor and best actress in 2018 and for what movies ?

In a year in which most of the big stars disappointed, two of my favorite actors stood out in 2018.

( NB- This is strictly based on the movies I have seen and enjoyed)

Rajkummar Rao

One of the best actors in Bollywood currently and what a range of performances.

As the terrorist Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh in Omerta based on the Daniel Pearl killing, he was spine chillingly real.

As a bumbling kidnapper in Fanney Khan.

But above all he kills it in Stree, as the small town goofy tailor. His “Vicky Please” is classic. From a blood thirsty, fanatical terrorist to a goofball tailor who falls in love with a spirit, Rajkummar Rao once again shows why he is one of the most versatile actors of this generation.

The other favorite of mine, Ayushmann Khurana, who had made a great debut with Vicky Donor in 2012, but then most of his subsequent releases were pretty much underwhelming. Before he came back with a series of excellent performaces in Dum Laga Ke Haisha, Bareilly Ki Barfi, Shub Mangal Savadhan.

And this year he rocked with 2 back to back hits.

A pianist, pretending to be blind caught up in an intriguing web of murder and double crossing in Sriram Raghavan’s brilliant thriller Andhadhun.

A middle class Delhi guy who finds that his mom is pregnant again, in the quirky comedy Badhai Ho. Wonderful slice of life movie.

Among other noticeable performances.

Akshay Kumar, continued his streak of good performances, first in Padman as an idealistic small town guy who gets the women to adopt sanitary pads and Gold as the ambitious hockey coach. And finishing it off as the villian in 2.0.

John Abraham did well with Parmanu, based on Pokhran II, though his Satyameva Jayate was nothing great.

Ajay Devgan in Raid as a honest IRS officer, who takes on the powerful local bigwig in a small town in the Northern hinterland.

Sohum Shah in Tumbbad, as the ambitious, often greedy protagonist, a brilliant performance. That emotional intensity was something else.

Varun Dhawan in Sui Dhaga, refreshingly natural, as the small town guy, who wants to set up his own business.

Although not stars per, se but these actors gave some outstanding performances in 2018.

Pankaj Tripathi as the paranologist in Stree.

Saurabh Shukla as the corrput, influential small town big wig in Raid.

Gajraj Rao in Badhai Ho who has to come to terms with his wife’s pregnancy, at a late age.

Among the heroines.

Anushka Sharma in Sui Dhaga, beautifully slips into the character of a small town North Indian housewife, the mannerisms, diction very much in place.

Radhika Apte once again proved her consistency and versatility with solid performances in Padman and Andhadhun, two diametrically opposite characters.

Tabu as brilliant as ever as the femme fatale in Andhadhun

Alia Bhatt as a female spy in Raazi, excellent depiction of a woman, who has to choose between country and her husband.

But the scene stealer for me was Neena Gupta, as a 50+ middle class Delhi, Punjabi housewife, who becomes pregnant, and how she deals with it.