An alumnus of the National School of Drama (NSD), Shafi is well-known for his work in Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Hindi cinema. He debute as the main antagonist in the Telugu action drama Khadgam (2002), which earned him the Filmfare Award (South) for Best Villain that year. Since then, the seasoned actor has appeared in leading, supporting and character roles in several movies, notable among which are the S.S. Rajamouli film Chatrapathi (2005), the National Film Award-winning Tollywood feature Kamli (2006), the Hindi political thriller Firaaq (2008), the Mahesh Babu starrer Dookudu (2011) and the action comedy Julayi (2012).

More recently, Shafi was seen in movies like Pilla Nuvvu Leni Jeevitam (2014), Mister (2017) and the Kannada film Hangover (2019).