LUCKNOW, Jan. 22 -- Celebrating the shared connection of people, history and culture of Lucknow and Kolkata, the five-day 17th Sanatkada Lucknow Festival will be organised from January 30. The theme of the festival is 'Raabta: Lucknow and Calcutta'. This was shared during a press conference at a private hotel on Wednesday. An exhibition, cultural programmes, food festival and discussions around the theme will be part of the festival which will be organised at Safed Baradari, Raja Ram Pal Singh Park and Amir-ud-daula Public Library. This year, Salim Kidwai Memorial Lecture will be delivered by Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee on January 31 which will remain one of the key attractions of the festival. Naghma Parveen, co-director at Sanatkada, said that the Koocha-e-Bazm-e-Hunar, a dedicated craft street will also have craft demonstrations, including Kantha embroidery by Shantanu Guha and Pattachitra painting by Suhana. "This year Meera and Satti Kuckreja Husn-e-Karigari Lifetime Achievement Award, an initiative started in 2024 to honour master craftspersons who have devoted their lives to their craft, will be conferred upon Mahesh Kumar and Sunita Devi, renowned for their work in miniature Mufti-making," Praveen said. The festival's Bawarchi Khana will have diverse culinary offerings, including Mutton Razala, a historic Kolkata dish, prepared by Manzilat Fatima, the great-great-granddaughter of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah. The festival will feature a dhaak performance by Gokul Das and his all-women troupe who is also a Padma Shri recipient. The festival will also host a dawn concert, Seher, featuring classical music performance by Ustad Irfan Mohammad Khan, a sarod player of the Lucknow-Shahjahanpur Gharana. He will be accompanied by Ustad Ilmas Husain Khan on tabla. A significant highlight this year is the partnership with Kolkata's Baro Market. A specialised section of the craft bazaar will be modelled after this market. Artists from Najibabad preserving a 250-year-old tradition of Rafugari and embroidery on Pashmina shawls will also be present....