Rajinikanth was born to a Marathi family in Karnataka. He was the fourth child of his parents, Jijabai and Ramojirao Gaekwad. He was named Shivajirao Gaekwad. Gaekwad is a family name among the Marathas. He lost his mother at the age of five. He did his schooling at the Acharya Paatashala in Bangalore and then at the Vivekananda Balaka Sangha,a unit of the Ramakrishna Mission. Rajnikanth struggled a lot during his early age because of poverty. Although his mother-tongue is Marathi,he has not acted in any Marathi movies yet.