Shakeel Badayuni was born on 3rd August in the year 1916. He was an accomplished Urdu poet, songwriter and lyricist. He was instrumental in providing some of the best song lyrics in Hindi Movies or Bollywood.

Early Life of Shakeel Badayuni
Shakeel Badayuni was born in Badayun, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Mohammed Jamaal Ahmed Sokhta Qadiri, his father, wanted him to have a good career, thus he arranged private tutor at home for Shakeel to teach him Arabic, Urdu, Persian, and Hindi. His inclination towards poetry was not hereditary like other Shayars. One of his distant relatives, Zia-ul-Qadiri Badayuni was a religious shayar. Shakeel was influenced by him and the contemporary environment of Badayun led him to Sher-o-Shayari.

When he joined Aligarh Muslim University in 1936, he started participating in inter-college, inter-university mushairas and won frequently. In 1940, he married Salma, who was a distant relative of his and they had been living in a common house since childhood, however, the Purdah system was vogue in their family and they were not close. After completing his Bachelor of Arts, he moved to Delhi as a supply officer, but continued participating in mushairas, earning fame nation-wide. Those were the days of shayars who wrote about the downtrodden sections of society, their upliftment, the betterment of society and all.

Career of Shakeel Badayuni
Shakeel, to write songs for films, moved to Mumbai in the year 1944. He also met film producer and music composers like A.R. Kardar and Naushad. Together, Shakeel Badayuni and Naushad became one of the most sought after composer/lyricist duos in the industry. Among the stupendous scores they churned out together, are those of Baiju Bawra (1952), Mother India (1957), and Mughal-e-Azam (1960) that stand out. Other films they scored together include Dulari (1949), Shabab (1954), Ganga Jamuna (1961), and Mere Mehboob (1963). Although Shakeel Badayuni worked most extensively with Naushad, he also collaborated with Ravi and Hemant Kumar as well. His lyrics for the song Husnwale Tera Jawab Nahin and Ravi`s music both won Filmfare Awards for the hit film Gharana. His other notable film with Ravi is Chaudhvin Ka Chand (1960), while Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962) is his biggest hit with Hemant Kumar. The title song from Chaudhvin Ka Chand, rendered by Mohammed Rafi, won Badayuni the Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist in 1961.

Shakeel penned numbers for around 89 films. In addition, he wrote many popular Ghazals which are still sung by vocalists like Pankaj Udhas and others. Unlike other shayaars, he wasn`t an alcoholic. The Government of India had honoured him with the title Geet Kar-e-Azam.

Association of Shakeel Badayuni with Music Composers
Shakeel shared a close friendship with Naushad, Ravi and Ghulam Mohammed, with whom he enjoyed his life to the fullest.

Shakeel also wrote a substantial chunk of his songs for music director Ravi Sharma. Prominent amongst those were Gharana, Ghunghat and Grihasti as well as Phool Aur Patthar, Chaudhvin Ka Chand and Do Badan.

Shakeel Badayuni wrote for Hemant Kumar for movies like Bees Saal Baad, Sahib Bibi Aur Gulam, and Bin Badal Barsaat.

Shakeel Badayuni penned lyrics for the tunes of S D Burman for movies Kaise Kahoon and Benazir.