Filmmaker Shaad Ali is the son of Padma Shri awardee Muzaffar Ali, a well-known filmmaker, poet and social worker from Lucknow, and Subhashini Ali, daughter of the legendary Captain Lakshmi and Colonel Prem Kumar Sehgal of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's Indian National Army. Subhashini Ali is also a former Communist Party of India member of Parliament from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh and president of the All-India Democratic Women's Association. Shaad Ali did his schooling in Sanawar, Himachal Pradesh, at the Welham Boys' School and The Lawrence School. He began working as an assistant to renowned filmmaker Mani Ratnam and got an opportunity to assist him in the making of Mani Ratnam's first Hindi film Dil Se... (1998).

Shaad Ali's own first movie as director was the romantic Saathiya (2002), starring Vivek Oberoi and Rani Mukerji, a remake of Mani Ratnam's Tamil hit Alaipayuthey (2000). Mani Ratnam and veteran filmmaker Yash Chopra had come together to produce the film under the Yash Raj Films banner. The movie was a hit.

In 2005, Shaad Ali directed another film, Bunty Aur Babli, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukerji, which was also a hit. His next was Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (2007), starring Abhishek Bachchan, Bobby Deol, Preity Zinta and Lara Dutta. That bombed.

Though a filmmaker himself now, Shaad Ali returned to assist Mani Ratnam on the making of Guru (2007) and Raavan / Raavanan (2010). In 2014, he directed the Govinda-starrer Kill Dil. It was a flop. His next was the romantic drama OK Jaanu (2017) starring Aditya Roy Kapur and Shraddha Kapoor. The film, a remake of Mani Ratnam's Tamil hit O Kadhal Kanmani (2015), also bombed.

His latest release was the biographical sports drama Soorma based on the life of former India hockey star and captain Sandeep Singh, starring Diljit Dosanjh. Though the film did average business at the box office, it halted Shaad Ali's poor run at the box office.

Shaad Ali is married to stylist Aarti Patkar.