Machhalishahari was born in Machhali Shahar, a city in District Jaunpur of Uttar Pradesh, on 1 July 1921.
[citation needed] Salam Macchlishheri is one of the few poets who escaped the ideological impact of Progressive Writers Movement and wrote a different kind of romantic poetry marked for its spontaneity and naturalness.
[7] In his Marathi article "Geet Yatre", Madhav Moholkar asserted that Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Majaz, Jazbi, Salaam Machhalishahari, Sahir Ludhianvi and other poets had started a new era of progressive poetry in Urdu literature.
[8] In 1996, the Urdu Academy published selected poems with the title Intekhab Salam Machhali Shehri ISBN 8171211011.
[9][10] A critical appraisal of his life and literary contributions is Aziz Indori's Salaam Machhalishahari – Shakhsiyat aur Funn.