[3][4] He was one of the dominant musical forces in Indian cinema in the 1950s and early 1960s, and was an important figure in the Progressive Writers' Movement.

Majrooh Sultanpuri was born as Asrar ul Hassan Khan in a Muslim family, in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, where his father was posted in the Police Department[3] in 1919/1920.

The ghazal was a hit with the audience and Majrooh decided to drop his fledgling medical practice and began writing poetry seriously.

[3][1] While Majrooh is popular as a film lyricist and is widely known in that capacity, be it known that he also created one of the best-known verses of Urdu poetry: "Main akela hee chala tha janibe manzil magar, log saath aate gaye aur carvan banta gaya!"

[8][2] Majrooh subsequently wrote lyrics for films like Naatak (1947), Doli (1947) and Anjuman (1948) but his major breakthrough came with Mehboob Khan's Andaz (1949).

[9] Majrooh Sultanpuri worked with many music directors like Anil Biswas, Naushad, Ghulam Mohammed, Madan Mohan, O. P. Nayyar, Roshan, Salil Chowdhury, Chitragupt, N. Datta, Kalyanji-Anandji, Laxmikant-Pyarelal and R. D.

Film Shah Jehan (1946) was followed by S. Fazil's Mehndi, Doli (1947), Mehboob's Andaz (1949) and Shaheed Latif's Arzoo.

[13] Majrooh won his only Filmfare Best Lyricist Award for the song "Chahunga Mein Tujhe Saanj Savere" from Dosti in 1965.