शकील बदायूँनी

Shakeel Badayuni (3 August 1916 – 20 April 1970) was an Indian Urdu poet and one of the most celebrated lyricists of Hindi cinema's golden era. Born in Badaun, United Provinces, he received a traditional education in Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and Hindi at home before graduating from Aligarh Muslim University in 1942. He then took a clerical government job in Delhi, but left it in 1944 to move to Bombay and pursue a career as a film lyricist.

His debut film, Dard (1947), scored by composer Naushad, immediately established him as a major talent, beginning a partnership with Naushad that lasted over two decades and produced the music for some of Hindi cinema's most enduring classics, including Baiju Bawra (1952), Mother India (1957), and Mughal-e-Azam (1960). Beyond his work with Naushad, he also collaborated extensively with composers Ravi and Hemant Kumar, and continued to write Urdu ghazals performed by singers such as Begum Akhtar.

Over a career spanning close to 90 films, Shakeel Badayuni became the first lyricist to win three consecutive Filmfare Awards for Best Lyricist (1961–1963), including for the title song of Chaudhvin Ka Chand (1960). He died in Bombay in 1970 from complications of diabetes. In 2013, India Post issued a commemorative postage stamp in his honour.