Shakeel Badayuni was born in Badaun, Uttar Pradesh. Shakeel was influenced by one of his distant relatives, Zia-ul-Qadiri Badayuni, was a religious shayar and the contemporary environment of Badaun led him to poetry.

When he joined Aligarh Muslim University in 1936, he started participating in inter-college, inter-university mushairas and won frequently. After completing his BA, he moved to Delhi as a supply officer, but continued participating in mushairas, earning fame nationwide. During his Aligarh days, Badayuni also started learning Urdu poetry formally from Hakim Abdul Waheed 'Ashk' Bijnori. Shakeel moved to Bombay in 1944, to write songs for films. He met film producer, A.R. Kardar and music composer, Naushad Ali, who asked him to sum up his poetic skills in one line.

Although Shakeel Badayuni worked most extensively with Naushad, he also collaborated with Ravi and Hemant Kumar as well. His 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.

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