Singer Akriti Kakkar, who will be performing with her twin sisters Sukriti and Prakriti Kakkar at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) next month, says she is more like a mother to them.

"I'm very protective towards my sisters. They are nine years younger to me and I'm like a mother to them," Akriti told.

Popular for songs like "Saturday Saturday", "Iski uski" and "Waada karo", Akriti says her relation with her sisters is healthy and there is no competition.

"When each time we come out with a song, the discussion is healthy. There is always so much to learn from each other. We have different lives, but whenever we come together as siblings to perform or otherwise, there is every other feeling but rivalry or competition," she added.

To make their performance memorable at the IFFM, Akriti said: "Since the platform is such a prestigious one in awards, we have thought of depicting what Indian music is all about from the perspective of youth."

"The performances will be basically in four different capsules, varying from unplugged to folk, commercial Bollywood, retro and little bit of fusion. It will depict what we all like and listen to."

Talking about her journey in Bollywood so far, Akriti said she started singing at the age of five years and always planned to sing for Bollywood only.

"After I completed my 12th standard, my dad took a promise from me that if I get a certain percentage in my exams, he would take me to Mumbai so that I could take up singing as my career... And that's what happened."

"I started singing, and it was difficult time... Music directors Vishal-Shekhar gave me my first break in the movie 'Dus' for singing 'Chham se wo aa jaye'. I did a lot of songs with music trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and director-singer Himesh Reshammiya.

She says recognition for playback singers in Bollywood needs to get better.

"I wish it was better, but it's getting better (recognition of playback artistes)... It is way better than how it was 10 years ago. It is all because of the social media revolution as it has became easier for the singers to tell people out there that it's their song."

Commenting on independent music in today's time, Akriti said: "In times when pop music was flourishing, people used to like indie singers like Lucky Ali and Alisha Chinai. If similar amount of publicity is done on a non-film album these days, they will reach out to the people.

Akriti also has plans for indie projects in the future.