Born in Kolkata in 1969 into a family steeped in the arts, Pandit Suman Laha found his earliest inspiration in his great-grand-uncle, the late Shri Nadu Mullick — touring partner of Pt. Ravi Shankar and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan — who sparked a lifelong devotion to Hindustani music. Trained in the pure Senia Dhrupad tradition under eminent veena master Pt. Shyamal Chattopadhyay, Suman honed a style renowned for its crystal-clear intonation, strict grammatical discipline, and emotive depth. He performs on a custom-designed 20-string slide veena of his own invention — an evolution of the ancient Vichitra Veena — allowing him to weave lyrical meends (glides) and intricate gamaks with equal ease. He has also trained under Pandit Manilal Nag, Pandit Barun Kumar Pal, Pandit Dilip Patra, and Pandit Debasish Bhattacharya (sarod), Head of the Department of Music, Rabindra Bharati University.