Shaukat Kaifi was born into a Uttar Pradesh migrant family in Hyderabad State.

At a young age, she fell in love and married the Urdu poet Kaifi Azmi.

Shaukat and Kaifi, who settled in Mumbai after their wedding, endured many ups and downs in life.

For many years, the couple lived with their two children in Commune accommodation provided by the Communist Party of India, which was one bedroom in an apartment shared with three other families.

She appeared in about a dozen films, with significant roles in major productions like (Garam Hawa and Umrao Jaan).