Tanveer Naqvi’s lineage traces back to a family of poets who originally came from Iran. With a family immersed in poetry, literature and arts, Naqvi came to be influenced by the poetry of dissent against the British Empire.

Naqvi started as a lyricist in the Hindi film industry in the 1940s, starting his career with Swami (1941). He wrote the lyrics for close to 200 films before moving to Pakistan. He was married to renowned singer and actress Noor Jahan’s sister, Eidan Bai. The big hits of his career include Mehboob Khan’s musical hit Anmol Ghadi (1946) and Jugnu (1947) which were each the highest grossing Indian films of the respective years. Anmol Ghadi (1946) has some of the most memorable melodies in Hindi Cinema. Few people know that Mohammad Rafi was introduced to the Hindi film industry by Naqvi. He was much sought after as a songwriter. After partition, Tanvir Naqvi migrated to Pakistan and for over 15 years remained one of the leading lyricists of Urdu and Punjabi films. His patriotic number sung by Noor Jahan during the 1965 war “Rang Laayega Shaheedon ka Lahoo” became extremely popular.

 A collection of his poetry has been published under the title 'Sunahre Sapne.'

He died on November 1, 1972 in Lahore.