The Marathi people or Maharashtrians (Marathi: मराठी माणसं or महाराष्ट्रीय) are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, that inhabit the Maharashtra region and state of western India. Their language Marathi is part of the southern group of Indo-Aryan languages. Although their history goes back more than a millennium, the community came to prominence when Maratha warriors under Shivaji established the Maratha Empire in 1674. If regarded as a single ethnic group, the Marathi constitute the 17th largest ethnic group.

The term 'Marathi people' is derived from the language commonly spoken by this ethnicity, i.e. Marathi.

The term Maratha or its plural Marathe was used between the 17th and 19th centuries, coinciding with the existence of the Maratha Empire. However, at the beginning of 20th century, due to the efforts of Shahu Maharaj of Kolhapur, the peasant Indo-Aryan Kshatriya Marathi class called Kunbi started using the word Maratha to describe themselves. The current usage of the term Maratha applies mainly to the former Indo-Aryan Kshatriya Kunbi caste as well as the 96 clan upper caste Maratha group and not to the wider Marathi community.

Milind Soman (Marathi: मिलिंद सोमण) (born 4 November 1965) is an India model, actor, and film producer.

Milind Soman was born in Marathi Chitpavan Brahmin Family in Scotland and lived in England until the age of seven, when his family moved back to India. He is a Gowd Saraswat Brahmin form his maternal side. He was also a national-level swimmer for India and was then discovered as a model.

For many years, Milind had a relationship with co-model Madhu Sapre.

In July 2006, Soman married Mylene Jampanoi, his French co-actor of the film "Valley of Flowers" in a tourist resort of Goa. They had met on the sets of the same film. The two divorced in 2009. Soman is seeing another actress Shahana Goswami, but they broke up.

Soman was one of the earliest professional male models in India. His first significant work was to model in an advertising campaign for a clothing manufacturer. He quickly became one of the most successful models in the country.^{[citation needed]} He rose to further fame while featuring in Alisha Chinai's superhit music video, Made in India (1995) which then made him a household name.

Zakir Abdul Karim Naik (Urdu: ذاکر عبدالکریم نائیک; born 18 October 1965) is an Indian public speaker on the subject of Islam and comparative religion. He is the founder and president of the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), a non-profit organisation that owns the Peace TV channel based in Dubai, UAE. He is sometimes referred to as a televangelist. Before becoming a public speaker, he trained as a doctor. He has written two booklets on Islam and comparative religion. He is regarded as an exponent of the Salafi ideology; he places a strong emphasis on individual scholarship and the rejection of "blind Taqlid", which has led him to repudiate the relevance of sectarian or Madh'hab designations, all the while reaffirming their importance.

Zakir Abdul Karim Naik was born on 18 October 1965 in Mumbai, India. He attended St. Peter's High School in Mumbai. Later he enrolled at Kishinchand Chellaram College, before studying medicine at Topiwala National Medical College and Nair Hospital and later the University of Mumbai, where he obtained a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBS). His wife, Farhat Naik, works for the women's section of the IRF.