A bazaar (from Persian بازار (bāzār), meaning "market"; from Middle Persian بهاچار (bahā-chār), meaning "place of prices") is a permanent enclosed merchandising area, marketplace, or street of shops where goods and services are exchanged or sold. (A souq, by contrast, is an open-air marketplace or commercial quarter.) The term is sometimes also used to refer to the "network of merchants, bankers and craftsmen" who work that area. Although the current meaning of the word is believed to have originated in Persia, its use has spread and now has been accepted into the vernacular in countries around the world. The rise of large bazaars and stock trading centers in the Muslim World allowed the creation of new capitals and eventually new empires. New and wealthy cities such as Isfahan, Golconda, Samarkand, Cairo, Baghdad, and Timbuktu were founded along trade routes and bazaars.

Its name in other languages includes Arabic and Urdu: بازار, Albanian, Serbian and Turkish: pazar, Bengali: বাজার, Bulgarian and Macedonian: пазар, Cypriot Greek: pantopoula,Greek: παζάρι (pazari), Hindi: बज़ार्, Hungarian: vásár (Persian influence around the 7th-8th century, meaning regular market, but also special occasion markets, such as Karácsonyi Vásár (Christmas Market)) and bazár (Turkish influence around the 16th-17th century, meaning Oriental-style market or shop), Indonesian and Malay: pasar, Polish: bazar, Russian: базар and Uzbek: bozor.

Naseeruddin Shah (born 20 July 1950) is an Indian / Bollywood film actor and director. He is widely considered to be one of the best actors produced by India. In 2003, the Government of India honored him with the Padma Bhushan for his contributions towards Indian cinema.

Shah was born on 20 July 1950 in Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, India where his father was a Navy Officer. Shah's family hails from Sardhana in District Meerut (Uttar Pradesh).He is a descendant of the 19th-century Afghan warlord Jan Fishan Khan. Naseeruddin Shah did his schooling at St. Anselm's Ajmer and St Joseph's College, Nainital. He graduated in arts from Aligarh Muslim University in 1971 and attended National School of Drama in Delhi. He has been successful in mainstream Bollywood cinema as well as in Parallel Cinema. He has also appeared in international films, notably playing Captain Nemo in the Hollywood comic book adaptation The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. His elder brother is Lt. General Zameerud-din Shah PVSM, SM, VSM, recently appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University.

Farooq Sheikh or Farooque Sheikh (born 25 March 1948) is an Indian actor, philanthropist and a popular television presenter. He is best known for his films during the 1970s and 1980s. His major contribution was in Parallel Cinema or the New Indian Cinema. He has worked with directors like Satyajit Ray, Muzaffar Ali, Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Ketan Mehta.

He has acted in many serials and shows on television and performed on stage in famous productions such as Tumhari Amrita (1992), alongside Shabana Azmi, directed by Feroz Abbas Khan, and presented the TV show, Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai (Season 1). He won the 2010 National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for Lahore.

Shaikh was born to Mustafa Shaikh, a Mumbai lawyer and Farida Shaikh in Amroli in Gujarat's Surat District. His family were Zamindaris, and he grew up in luxurious surroundings. He was the eldest of five children.

He went to St. Mary's School, Mumbai and then to St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. He studied law at Siddharth College of Law.

Smita Patil (17 October 1955 – 13 December 1986) was an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. Regarded among the finest stage and film actresses of her times, Patil appeared in over 75 Hindi and Marathi films in a career that spanned just over a decade. During her career, she received two National Film Awards and a Filmfare Award. She was the recipient of the Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian honour in 1985.

Patil graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune and made her film debut with Shyam Benegal's Charandas Chor (1975). She became one of the leading actresses of parallel cinema, a New Wave movement in India cinema, though she also appeared in several mainstream movies throughout her career. Her performances were often acclaimed, and her most notable roles include Manthan (1977), Bhumika (1977), Aakrosh (1980), Chakra (1981), Chidambaram (1985) and Mirch Masala (1985).

Apart from acting, Patil was an active feminist (in a distinctly Indian context) and a member of the Women's Centre in Mumbai. She was deeply committed to the advancement of women's issues, and gave her endorsement to films which sought to explore the role of women in traditional Indian society, their sexuality, and the changes facing the middle-class woman in an urban milieu.

Supriya Pathak Kapoor (born 7 January 1961) is an Indian actress hailing from a long line of performers. She is famous for her role in the Indian sitcoms Khichdi and Idhar Udhar.

Supriya Pathak is daughter of Dina Pathak, a well known character actress famous for playing mother and grandmother roles during the 1980s and 1990s. Her sister Ratna Pathak Shah is also an actress, who is married to actor Naseeruddin Shah. Supriya is married to actor Pankaj Kapoor with whom she has a daughter and son. Her step son is the famous Bollywood actor Shahid Kapoor.

Supriya began her career with the critically acclaimed 1981 film Kalyug which was followed by roles in many more critically acclaimed films such as Vijeta (1982), Bazaar (1982), Masoom (1983) and Mirch Masala (1985). She also had a minor role as Mahatma Gandhi's niece in the multi-award-winning biopic Gandhi (1982) and starred in the 1988 French film The Bengali Night alongside Hugh Grant and in Raakh opposite Aamir Khan. In the early 1990s, she took a long break from acting in films but appeared in several television series. After an 11-year hiatus from acting, she starred in the 2005 film Sarkar opposite Amitabh Bachchan, following which she also worked in some other films, most recently being the 2009 Ranbir Kapoor - Konkona Sen Sharma starrer Wake Up Sid. She is best known for her role of Hansa Praful Parekh in the TV Series Khichdi.