His father, Mohammed Jamaal Ahmed Sokhta Qadiri, wanted him to have a successful career, thus he arranged Arabic, Urdu, Persian, and Hindi tuition for Shakeel at home.

[5] When he joined Aligarh Muslim University in 1936, he started participating in inter-college, inter-university mushairas, or poetry recitation symposiums, and won frequently.

[5] Shakeel used to say: During his Aligarh days, Badauni also started learning Urdu poetry formally from Hakim Abdul Waheed 'Ashk' Bijnori.

Shakeel wrote, Hum Dard Ka Afsana Duniya Ko Suna Denge, Har Dil Main Mohabbat Ki Ek Aag Laga Dengey.

His lyrics for the song Husnwale Tera Jawab Nahin and Ravi's music score 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.

Naushad knowing that his financial condition was not good, took 3 films to him, getting the lyrics written in the sanatorium, and got him a payment of nearly 10 times more than his normal fees.

[5] Shakeel wrote for Hemant Kumar for movies like Bees Saal Baad (1962), Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962), Bin Badal Barsaat.

[5] Shakeel Badayuni succumbed to diabetes complications at the age of fifty-three, on 20 April 1970, at Bombay Hospital leaving behind his wife, two sons and two daughters.

[5] Shakeel loved to play badminton, go on picnics and hunting trips and fly kites with his friends from the industry, Naushad and Mohammed Rafi.

Some of his popular works include the musical Baiju Bawra (1952), historical epic Mughal-e-Azam (1960) and social Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962).