The livewire Ranbir Kapoor and the vivacious Vidya Balan ended up winning top honors at the 58th Idea Filmfare Awards 2012. Ranbir Kapoor won the Best Actor (Male) Award for his film Barfi. Interestingly Ranbir did not use mike for his thanksgiving speech. He kept the mike on floor and gave his speech through expressions, without the use of any words like his mute character in Barfi. Karan Johar, who was hosting the segment, claimed this was the best acceptance speech of the night.

Vidya Balan won the Best Actor (Female) Award for her film Kahaani. "This goes to the entire team of Kahaani", said Vidya Balan. "And thank you (cinematographer) Setu for making a pregnant women look beautiful. This is very special to all women who have lived their life with courage". Talking about Filmfare, Vidya said, "As a child, I would stay glued to the TV to watch Filmfare. And here I am today with a trophy. As the bible says ask and you shall receive".

Both the Best Actor Awards were given by Rekha. Both Vidya Balan and Ranbir Kapoor touched Rekha's feet to seek her blessings. The Critics Award for Best Actor (Male) was given to Irrfan Khan for his performance of a athelete-turned-dacoit in the film Paan Singh Tomar. The Critics Award for Best Actor (Female) went to Richa Chadda for Gangs of Wasseypur. Manoj Bajpayee presented the award to her. Incidentally Manoj played Richa's costar and husband in the film Gangs of Wasseypur.