Urmila Matondkar
To say that she was par excellence in Bhoot would be undermining her acting capabilities. Seriously, Bhoot would have been incomplete had it not been Urmila's exhaustive and heart wrenching performance. Bhoot was followed by Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi's Pinjar where she scored once again. The characters that she played in above mentioned films were as different as chalk and cheese. Bhoot had her as a simple housewife captivated by a spirit seeking revenge while in Pinjar Urmila played a victim of partition. Despite the powerhouse performances awards have still eluded her. But that notwithstanding Urmila has already moved ahead is now looking forward to the release of Ek Hasina Thi and Tanuja Chandra's Hope And Little Sugar based on the September 11 terrorist attack in New York.

Priety Zinta
The gal has proved that she has the zing! Though Koi Mil Gaya and Kal Ho Na Ho belonged to the male leads Hrithik Roshan and Shah Rukh Khan respectively, Priety stood her ground. Producer Karan Johar admits, "I could not have imagined Kal Ho Na Ho without Priety." Her noticeable performances in both films has fetched her some of the top line films including Yash Chopra's next to be directed by Chopra himself where she plays a Pakistani girl who falls into some trouble when she visits India. There's also Farhan Akhrtar's Lakshya making her the top contender.

Rani Mukherjee
Having signed two films with Sanjay Leela Bhansali viz; Black and Bajirao Mastani, Rani has already enhanced her prospects at the box-office. Plus there's Yash Chopra's next where she plays the good Samaritan who helps Shah Rukh reach the Wagh border so that he can unite with the gal he loves (Priety Zinta). Bhansali's films have her in powerful roles that of a blind girl in Black and in Bajirao Mastani as Bajirao's wife. Besides Priety, Rani too is considered to be top actress at the box-office today. In a poll conducted by www.b4utv.com, it is Rani Mukherjee who won hands down followed by Priety, Aishwarya Rai and Bipasha Basu.

Bipasha Basu
She was the first actress to have had the first hit to her credit this year. Jism with John Abraham had Bipasha Basu in the most unconventional role no actress would have dared to play so early in her career - that of a brutally ambitious wife who would do anything to take over the business, including lure a man and use him to get rid of her husband. The film fetched her accolades. But with fame also came the brickbats. She faced trouble in Jaipur where a man tried to fondle her. A similar incident occurred in Mumbai's hot and happening Rain pub. But the actress brushed it off saying that her on screen image had nothing to do with the incidents. "It could have happened to anyone," she maintained. Bipasha Basu has quite a few films lined up for next year viz; Ishq Hai Tumse, Aetbaar and Mumkin.