Rajinikanth ^[5] was born to a Maharashtrian family in Karnataka. ^[6][7] He was the fourth child of his parents, Jijabai and Ramojirao Gaekwad^[1]. He was named Shivajirao Gaekwad. Gaekwad is a family name. He lost his mother at the age of five. He did his schooling at the Acharya Paatshala in Bangalore and then at the Vivekananda Balak Sangh^[8], a unit of the Ramakrishna Mission. Rajnikanth struggled a lot during his early age because of poverty. Although his mother-tongue is Marathi^[8][9], he has not acted in any Marathi movies yet.

Acharya Patashala-The school Rajanikanth went to.

He began his career doing various jobs in Bangalore. He also attended a theatre for stage plays. Before starting his career in the film industry, he worked as a bus conductor for the Bangalore Transport Service in Bangalore^[10] It was during this time that he nurtured his acting interests by performing in various stage plays ^[10].