Khurshid started her film career way back in the late thirties and was among the two surviving actresses to have shared stellar honours with the renowned singer K.L. Saigal. Suraiya, another popular singer-actress of the forties and fifties, remains the only one now. Irshad Begum in real life, Khurshid had done a number of movies for Ranjeet Movietone and her leading men included Saigol, Motilal, Isharilal and Jairaj. Soon after partition she migrated to Pakistan and settled down in Karachi, where she did only two movies, Mandi and Fankar, both of which didn't fare well at the box-office. In 1956 Irshad Begum got married to Yusuf Bhaimia, and made philanthropy the mainstay of her existence. Since then she refused to give interviews or even talk about her film career. She was 79 when she passed away.