He composed music for Hindi films in the 1940s and 1950s, credited on-screen under the names Nashad and then later migrated to Pakistan in 1964.
He made his music debut under the name Shaukat Dehalvi in the 1947 action film Dildaar.
Made under the banner of J. Hind Chitra, its director was A. F. Keeka and K. A. Majeed, and the cast included Monica Devi, Panalal, Harish, Ratan Piya, Laila Gupta and Shanta Kanwar.
In this film, he composed Mughal Empereor Bahadur Shah Zafar's famous ghazal "Na Kisi Ki Aankh Ka Noor Hoon" which became very popular throughout India and Pakistan.
[2] In 1949, Nashad using the name Shaukat Ali Haideri composed songs for the film "Dada".
The director was Harish, and it was released under the banner of "Omar Khayyam films", the cast included Sheikh Mukhtar, Begum Para, Munawwar Sultana, Shyam, Murad, Mukri, and Gullu.
[2] In 1953, film director, Nakshab Jarachavi, had Shaukat Ali change his name to Nashad, which he retained for the rest of his life.
The story behind the name change has been written in the book "Naushad: Zarra Jo Aaftaab Bana" (Penguin).
Nashad then composed for Jarchavi's 1953 film Naghma, starring Nadira and Ashok Kumar.
After these discussions and back-and-forth suggestions, he would start composing the melodies to match with the mood of those situations in the film.
[2] Nashad had worked with Master Ghulam Haider, Nisar Bazmi, Naushad early in his film career as their assistant to learn from them.
[7][3] Some of the songs he composed, as an independent music director, are listed below: He married an Indian Muslim woman when he was living there.